Sokka's master
by Doltknuckle
Summary: The heroes of legend all have something in common; someone to guide them along the path to greatness. A young Sokka stumbles across an ancient relic that changes everything. New friends and enemies appear as we retell the final year of Sozin's war.
1. Chapter 1: Web of Destiny

When did everything change? It seems like forever since I was a simple fisherman's son in the southern water tribe. Was it the time of burning sky? The day of black sun? During one of the countless battles I've fought in? Maybe it was something simpler, like when a girl kissed me for the first time, or when I met the master.

It could be that things were always like this, that my destiny was forged on the day of my birth. Maybe the threads of fate were already woven like a web, with us caught following the lines to face our destiny. One of the few things I remember about mom is her telling me was that I was special. That I was destined for great things. Boy was she right. I wish she was still around to see how I helped shape this new world.

If I had to choose the first moment everything started to change, it would have to be when mom left us. It was when I was very young, only five or six seasons old. The fire nation had been raiding the different villages in the south pole. I soon learned what a refugee was. They were like us, but they had a haunted look and would quietly talk about "the horrors of war". Our village had somehow escaped the raids that had scattered the other villages. Though our luck did not last forever. The war would come to our home, heralded by the strange occurrence of black snow. I had never seen anything like it. Being young, I was at first curious. Watching in amazement as the black snow turned the entire village gray. I can still remember the feeling of dread that settled on the village, the silence was unnerving. Then, there was a blur of fire, destruction, and death. Nothing was the same afterward.

The village was able to fight off the battle group, but at a heavy cost. The village chief, my grand father, died with many of the best warriors of the village, including most of his heirs. Mom, his only daughter, survived because she stayed out of the battle and protected me and Katara. Once she was elevated to the position of village chief, she announced the radical decision to split the tribe. She feared that the fire nation would not accept the narrow defeat and would soon return with reinforcements. The village barely won the first battle, they would not survive a second. Our only hope was to trick the fire nation into thinking they have wiped us out. Mom, one of the few remaining benders, would stay behind. Her husband would be appointed chief, since he was one of the few who's children survived the first attack. Dad, being the way he was, refused to leave his wife, but she wouldn't give him an option. She knocked him out and had Bato carry him to the sleds.

At the time, the only thing I knew was that mom was staying behind to "chase away the black snow". It was years later when Gran-Gran gave me the full details that I understood why she never came back. All I knew at the time was mom was gone and Dad was in mourning. I still remember the cry of anguish that he made when he woke up and realized where he was. I watched in horror as he went into a blind rage and attacked Bato. The fight was short as the rest of the men tackled Dad and held him as his body shook with heart wrenching sobs. After he cried himself to exhaustion, he seemed to shut down for a time, becoming listless and depressed.

It wasn't until days after we arrived at the site for or new home that he suddenly changed. He called a meeting of all the men where they sat and talked for what seemed like forever. When they finished, the feeling of the entire village seemed changed. As if they all stopped mourning those they lost and focused on the new goal; stopping the fire nation. The men organized into fighting units and would train every free moment of every day. They did this religiously for four years. The only time someone would stop is when the village healer ordered them to. I tried to join in, but I was still too young to keep up.

When then men finally decided they were ready to join the war against the fire nation, I shouldn't have been surprised when Dad said I had to stay behind. I was heartbroken even knowing in my heart that I was too young. It was all I could do to not break out into tears as Dad told me that he was counting on me to protect the village while he was gone. To my credit, I was able to keep it together until the boats pulled away. I would then run away in tears to sulk where no one could see me. Warriors didn't cry, only babies and sissies cried. Little did I know that fate had someone for me to meet. Someone that would forever affect me in ways I never thought possible.

1234567890987654321

"It's not fair." Sokka grumbled to himself. "I'm not a baby anymore. I should be by Dad's side, fighting." He kicked a chunk of ice as he walked aimlessly across the frozen waste. "Dad always said that I was the best 'little warrior' in the whole village. That's gotta say somethin' about what I can do."

Sokka sighed, and kicked the chunk again. "Who am I kidding? I've never fought anyone else before. Dad would never let me into to battle practice, probably cause I was too weak." Sokka rubbed his face on his sleeve, wiping away his tears and smudging his war paint. "It wouldn't be so bad if all my friends didn't go with them. Koutan was only slightly older then me and he got to go." Kicking yet another chunk of ice, Sokka's shoulders drooped as he shuffled along.

"I wish I could be a warrior too." Sokka whined silently, looking up into the sky. "Then I could... whaa!" Sokka cried out as he tripped over a mound in the snow that he didn't see, falling flat on his face.

"Oww." He moaned wiping snow from his eyes. "Stupid ice, take this!" he yelled, kicking out at the offending mound. The mound let off a hollow thunk when his foot hit it. "What the? That doesn't sound like ice. What the heck did I trip over?"

Moving so he could get a better look, Sokka started digging in the snow. After only a few moments he uncovered a wooden box. "That's odd," Sokka said, "what is this doing in the middle of the south pole?". As he wiped off the snow and ice, he admired the intricate pattern on the top. Each element was represented as it melded into the next. "That's really cool." Sokka murmured, "let's see what's inside." The box had a simple latch that was quickly opened. Soon, Sokka was peering inside. In the box sat a simple pair of arm bracers. Each arm had a strange creature painted on it: one red, one blue. "Cool!" Sokka exclaimed, pulling up his sleeves and putting the bracers on. "Too bad my coat will cover them so I can't show off these patterns. They look awesome!"

"Can you see it?"

"Yea! I can't wait to show Katara!" Sokka exclaimed.

"You can hear me?"

"Of course I can hear you." Sokka replied absentmindedly. "But why are you..." Sokka trailed off as he looked up. He couldn't see anyone nearby.

"I found someone." The voice was coming from all directions.

Sokka now jumped to his feet, looking in every direction. "Where are you?!" he called out.

"I finally found someone."

"This isn't funny!" Sokka called out, fear creeping into his voice.

"The spirits of this realm, I thank you."

"Show yourself!"

A blue light bloomed from Sokka's new bracers. It quickly increased in intensity, blinding Sokka. He squeezed his eyes shut to block out the blinding light.

"I now return once again to the living world."

When Sokka's eye's cleared, a boy stood before him. He looked about his age, dressed in a sleeveless red shirt and black pants. Sokka idly wondered how he was staying warm with so little clothing.

"Where the heck did you come from?"

The boy just smiled cockily and replied, "From my mom of course. Where else could I come from?"

"No you idiot!" Sokka yelled, "Right now! How did you get here?"

"What does it matter where I came from, I'm here now. Besides, you look like hell. What happened, loose a fight?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Sokka said looking away.

The boy stepped forward, staring. He patiently moved to try and look Sokka in the eyes. When their eyes did meet, the boy just stood there silently, waiting, engrossed in observing Sokka at an uncomfortably close distance. Sokka unconsciously took a step back, trying to escape the weird feelings he got from being so close to the strange boy. Something about this new boy grated on his nerves, he really couldn't explain it, but it freaked him out. After a few steps backwards, Sokka couldn't deal with the weird vibe he was getting. "Quit it!" He commanded, "Don't you know it's weird to stand so close to someone."

The boy just smiled more and came closer.

"I mean it!" Sokka yelled, trying not to let the fear growing in the back of his mind affect his voice.

The boy just moved closer.

"Go away!"

The boy was so close, that their noses almost touched. "Make me." The boy taunted.

"Leave me, alone!" He yelled, attempting to push the boy away. Unexpectedly, his hands passed right through the grinning boy. Sokka stood there stunned for a moment, trying to wrap his mind around what was happening.

"Boo!" The boy simply said, raising his hands above his head dramaticly.

Sokka's brain then clicked into gear, classifying the boy in front of him and determining his next course of action. A cold chill came over him, his heart kicked into overdrive, adrenaline filling his veins. He gasped, filling his lungs with air. In less then a second, Sokka's instincts took over and he sprung into action.

"Ahhhhh! It's a ghost!" He cried at the top of his lungs. Quickly turning, Sokka ran away as fast as his little legs could carry him.

The boy just stood there, chuckling quietly before fading away.

Sokka ran, and ran, and ran. He had never run so fast or so far in his life. The thought of ghosts always kinda freaked him out. All of the scary stories that his father told him left Sokka with a healthy fear of supernatural. While none of the ghost stores ever had someone die in it, he didn't want to become the first to do so.

After a while, Sokka couldn't keep running. The adrenaline boost that powered the start of his mad dash to get away had left him. With burning legs, Sokka flopped down onto the ice, panting loudly. "That... should be... far enough... away." he said between big lung fulls of air as he rolled onto his back. He laid there, watching the fog that his rapid gasps of breath made.

"It's a good thing that I'm not the dangerous type of ghost." A familiar voice noted casually from nearby. "If I was, you'd totally be dead by now." Sokka leapt to his feet, looking at the boy who was lounging on some nearby chunks of ice. He was just about ready to run away when the boy called out. "Runnin' aint going do any good, kid. I don't get tired, you do. Apparently rather quickly it seems."

It was more the challenging tone then what he said that made Sokka stop and turn. "You saying I'm weak?" Sokka demanded, his male ego overriding his better judgment.

"For a kid your age, probably not, but you ain't nothing special." The boy noted while casually inspecting his nails. "Probably your run of the mill village hick. Can catch a fish every so often, but useless in a fight."

"You shut your mouth!" Sokka demanded angrily, pridefully puffing out his chest, "I'm the chieftain's son, who just happens to be the best fighter in the village. He's been training me to be the best."

"So?" The boy replied, as if it didn't mean anything. "There are a lot of villages out there, each with a chieftain or a best fighter. These kids start training the moment they can walk, and do nothing but train all their lives. They dedicate every waking moment to the art. Tell me, how many days do you have between training sessions?"

Sokka didn't have a comeback for that. Even at the most intensive, Sokka only trained maybe once or twice every few days. He spent the rest of his time on chores and watching the younger kids.

"Humph," The boy snorted arrogantly, "that's what I thought. Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead of me." Looking up to the sky, the boy wondered aloud, "Why must 'the one' always be such a loser? Just once I would like someone halfway competent."

"Loser?!" Sokka squawked ,"Where do you get off being so judgmental? You don't know anything about me!"

"If history is any indication, you are one in a long line of worthless students. Do you know how hard it is to make a grand-master martial artist out of country bumpkins?" Throwing his hands up the boy yelled, "No you don't! Some days, it doesn't pay to be found." He bemoaned.

"So what are you? The ghost of a grandmaster martial arts sensei who haunts a pair of bracers and teaches the person that finds the bracers how to be a master martial artist?" Sokka asked, somehow picking up on the boys rantings.

The boys head snapped up and he gave Sokka a strange look. "That is eerily correct, kid. There may just be hope for you yet. The name's Ranma Saotome, Grand-master of the Anything Goes school of martial artists. I'm the best that ever lived and don't you forget it!"

1234567890987654321

That was the first time I met the master. He was a great teacher, and a good friend. He was the only person in the whole south pole that I could talk to. Though he was usually an egotistical jerk when we did. That being said, there was no one else that was my age in the village. All the men older then me left with Dad. I was the second youngest person in the whole tribe. Katara was the youngest until a little more then a half season after all the men left. It seemed like almost all the younger women were pregnant around the same time. Katara and I worked harder then we ever had before that summer. We mainly gathered food, always going out together, Gran-gran wouldn't let me run around on my own.

Meanwhile, Ranma started training me how to fight. It was tough work, but it gave me something to do. Actually, it was grueling work. Ranma would turn the simplest task into some complicated training technique. Everything was training. He even would come into my dreams and try to teach me things.

1234567890987654321

"Men, today we face a great enemy. One that threatens our very way of life." A warrior stated, standing in front of a collection of other warriors. The men around him nodded and murmured in agreement, clearly showing their support of the leader. "Today we take the field, not for ourselves, but for our family. They may try to take our land... but they will never take, our meat!"

A bloodthirsty cheer went up as the men raised their weapons into the air, psyching themselves up for the coming battle. They broke apart and moved into a tactical line behind their leader who turned to face his enemy. Pulling down the hood, marked to show his leadership status, Sokka unsheathed his sword. He pointed his weapon and gave the command. "Charge!"

As one organized mass, the warriors ran across the ice into the lines of their enemies, made up of all the different vegetables that Sokka hated. These human sized monstrosities held crude weapons in their cellulite appendages. Sokka's troops, using bone swords and spears, soon came into range of the vegetable troops. They viciously crashed into the enemy lines, hacking away at the enemy. Sea sprout solders were cut in twain, the limbs of water chestnut warriors were chopped off, and the sea prunes were impaled, their juicy vegetable innards spilling onto the ice. As the battle raged, the ice was colored with splatters of a variety of vegetable fluids. Sokka's men fought bravely, though not as well as Sokka of course. He was constantly saving troops from certain doom. Swooping in at the last moment to decapitate a sea sprout before it landed a killing blow on one of his troops.

They seemed to fight for hours before everything froze and Sokka heard a voice. "I've seen a lot of weird dreams out there, kid, but yours are something else."

Sokka looked around the field of people frozen in place, groaning as he knew the source of the voice. He watched as things disappeared from the ice and a familiar boy faded into existence nearby.

"Oh man! Not again! Can't you give me at least one dream to myself?" Sokka groaned.

"Come on Sokka, time for another lesson. I'm not the kind of ghost to sit on my ass, even if your dream are some of the most... unique I've seen. Floating around doing nothing is dumb." As he said this, Ranma floated into the air and drifted towards Sokka.

Sokka sighed, "That was a really good dream too. I'm getting really tired of all these lessons, how can I get rid of you?" Sokka asked.

Ranma smiled, "I'm glad you asked!" he reached down and pulled on his shirt, pulling it away from his body. Underneath a set of expensive robes unrolled, making him look like a scholar. Beside him, a board sprung from the ground that had the words "Paranormal Studies 101" written on it. Sokka just groaned and slapped his forehead with a hand.

Ranma adjusted a small pair of glasses as he started to talk. "When faced with a insubstantial entities..."

"In-sun-stand-yall?" Sokka interrupted, sitting down onto a fur that appeared on the snow. He had a feeling this was going to take a while.

"It's pronounced, in-sub-stan-ti-al. They are ghosts or spiritual projections, intelligent or semi-intelligent creatures without a physical form. Since they don't have a physical form, they can't directly hurt you. While a strong ghost may be able to drain some of your chi away, it's usually not enough to kill anyone but the weakest of people. Most ghosts won't even be interested in you anyways. They tend to hang around objects that had a significant impact on their life."

"And this is important why?" Sokka asked, bored.

"I'm getting to that." Ranma replied, annoyed, before continuing. "The only attacks that work against ghosts are those that interrupt their energy pattern. Chi attacks, something you'll eventually learn, can disrupt them if it has an opposite charge. Though it's only a temporary solution. A better way to deal with ghosts is to talk to them. If anything, they are still humans at heart and can be treated as one. They always have something they want done and are almost always willing to make a deal."

"So does that mean I have to do some random task to get rid of you?" Sokka asked, barely able to stand the boring lecture. "I'd like at least one blissful night of rest without you."

"Nope." Ranma stated simply, "You forget that I'm not really a ghost. I'm a spiritual imprint on those bracers you found. So as long as you wear those bracers, I'll be able to communicate with you. You are the only one who will be able to see and hear me."

"So..." Sokka mused, "you're basically a hallucination?"

Now it was Ranma's turn to smack his forehead. "No no no... you have to be insane to have hallucinations. You're not insane... well, no more then a kid who dreams of fighting vegetable monsters."

"Har, har." Sokka said sarcastically. "Are we done? I'd like to get back to my own dreams."

Chuckling slightly, Ranma smiled. "Of course you can..." he said, grabbing his robe, pulling it off to revel his original outfit. "If you can defeat me! On-guard!" He yelled, leaping forward.

Sokka yelped, and rolled backwards, away from Ranma's initial strike. He then sprang to his feet, falling into a basic defensive stance. As Sokka landed, Ranma was already fast approaching. Soon, Sokka could do nothing but focus on fighting Ranma. He knew that in dreams, Ranma's attacks could, and would, hurt if they landed. He had yet to defeat Ranma, and today would probably be no different.

Sokka spent the rest of the night, trying his best to gracefully take the beating that Ranma was gleefully dish out in the name of training. If Sokka had time to think about it, he would wish he never found those bracers. Instead, he was just glad he wouldn't feel all these bruises when he woke up tomorrow.

1234567890987654321

Those quiet days were probably some of the best times of my life, if you excluded the nightly training with Ranma. I was still a young child, able to enjoy the simple things in life. My day was full of chores, hunting, and playing with Katara. It was a happy time, full of joy and laughter for the whole tribe. The war was a faraway thing, no longer affecting us. I sometimes wish things could have stayed that way forever, but it was just the calm before the storm. Destiny was coming, and it was going to shatter the last peaceful period of my youth.

Finding the avatar was the best and worst thing to ever happen to me.

1234567890987654321

In the glacial mazes of the south pole, the southern water tribe made a living between the blocks of ice. They lived a simple life, one with few troubles and where everyone worked in harmony with each other. On a small canoe, two young tribe members navigated the waters, looking for fish.

"It's not going to escape me this time." The boy stated, intently tracking a small fish swimming lazily through the water. "Watch and learn Katara, this is how you catch a fish. This time, please don't play with magic water while I spear it."

The girl sighed, crossing her arms. "How many times do I have to tell you Sokka, it's not my fault you keep bumbling into it. As someone who trains to fight so much, you should spend more time practicing how to dodge."

"Shush!" Sokka said, "your complaining is going to scare away the fish. Mmm, I can already smell it cooking." He raised his spear, in preparation as Katara looked away, an annoyed scowl on her face. "Hyaa!" he called, driving the spear into the water. Completely missing the fish. "Oh man..." He lamented, head dropping to his chest.

"You need to practice your spear work as well it seems." Katara commented from the back of the boat. "It's a good thing the women know how to fish or we'd all starve." Sokka didn't answer just glared at her angrily. "Why can't you just admit that you could use my help? I can help you catch fish and practice my water bending at the same time."

"Every time you 'practice', I get wet!'" Sokka exclaimed, his fingers making air quotes. "Practice is for when you are by yourself, when you can't soak anyone with the misfortune of being nearby."

"Gran-gran won't let me leave the village unless it's with you! This is the only time I have to practice!"

"Why are you so hellbent on learning how to bend anyways? All the benders in the village were killed off by the fire nation. You want to be their next victim? It's dangerous, and it draws attention to the village."

"Not bend?!" Katara exclaimed, "That's like asking you not to hunt anymore!"

"At least when I hunt I don't put others lives in danger." Sokka stated, turning his back to Katara.

"You're going to bring that up again? How many times do I have to say it was an accident. If someone would let me practice more, I could have controlled that icicle."

A silence fell over the pair as Katara waited for her brother to answer. Sokka didn't want to continue the argument. It always ended with Katara storming off angrily. She was already annoyed, he didn't want to make it worse while they were on a tiny boat.

"You know Sokka," Ranma's voice echoed in Sokka's mind, "you can't prevent her from becoming a bender. Destiny chose her to control the elements, you can't stop that."

Sokka closed his eyes to focus better. "I know that, Ranma." He thought, "I just wish she would enjoy the quiet life for a while. If she becomes a bender, I have a feeling that she'll end up like mom."

"Things will work out," Ranma echoed in his mind, "I've got a good feeling..."

"SOKKA! WATCH OUT!" Katara yelled, snapping him out of his internal conversation.

Snapping his eyes open, Sokka immediately saw the problem. The current was taking them directly towards a forest of small ice glaciers. The turbulent water and shifting ice made for a great place to get crushed.

"Get a paddle Katara," Sokka called, picking up one for himself. "We'll try to escape it." Paddling furiously, the pair tried to move out of the current. Unfortunately, they we're not strong enough to escape, and continued to drift towards the ice chunks.

"No use Katara, we're going in!." They turned the boat to prepare to attempt to navigate the ice. As soon a they entered the ice forest, they started yelling commands at each other, attempting the ancient art of ice dodging. Something neither had any experience in. Being unable to coordinate, they couldn't avoid the chunks of floating ice. After a few moment's of frantic paddling, the boat got caught between a narrowing gap in the ice. They both knew what would happen next. Without a word between them, they jumped out of the boat and onto the ice as their boat was smashed behind them. As the boat pieces sank under the water, they laid there for a moment, catching their breath.

"Great, just great." Sokka grumbled. "You distracted me with your whining and now we're stranded."

"You think this is my fault?" Katara yelled, immediately recovering, "If you let me practice, I could have bended our boat out of the ice."

"By what? Making a giant wave, and capsizing us? How is that better?" Sokka asked. "I knew I should have left you behind. Leave it up to a girl to screw everything up."

"OH EXCUSE ME?!" Katara yelled flailing her arms around. "You don't seem like the pinnacle of manhood here. You don't even know how to drive a boat correctly! I work all day at the village, and instead of doing something useful, you run around playing warrior." As her arms moved around, waves of water were shooting off in every direction.

"Umm, Katara?" Sokka said.

"I even do your laundry!" Katara exclaimed, ignoring Sokka, "Have you ever smelled your socks? Not pleasant. All you do is eat and make a mess, I am sick and tired of always cleaning up after you! You take all my work for granted and you blame anything that goes wrong on me! It's not fair!"

"Katara? You need to calm down." The last wave hit the large glacier behind her, Breaking off some chunks from it.

"CALM DOWN!?" Katara screamed, another wave of water cutting into the glacier behind her. "NO! I am sick and tired of you telling me what to do! when we get back to the village, I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" With her final words she threw down her hands, sending a massive blast of water shooting out behind her, causing the abused glacier to shatter in a shower of ice fragments. The ice chucks falling into the water caused a wave that knocked both of them down. The ice that they were arguing on was thrown back, Sokka quickly grabbed onto the edge and snagged his sister. It'd only piss her off more if he let her drown.

After a moment, the ice came to a rest. "This is why you shouldn't play with water Katara." Sokka stated. "Every time you do, weird stuff happens that puts both of us in danger."

"Wow," Katara said in an awed voice, still completely ignoring Sokka, "Did I do that?"

"Congratulations Katara, you are now a danger to icebergs everywhere. You can hear them quaking in their frozen boots." Sokka looked away from his glaring sister as he scanned the area for a way back the more solid ice.

"Whoa..." Katara whispered, so quiet Sokka almost didn't hear it.

"Whoa what, Katara?" Sokka asked, looking back at his sister.

"Don't you feel that?" She asked. Before he could respond she yelled, "There!" pointing out to a now glowing patch of ocean. As Sokka watched, the glow intensified in strength and grew larger. Sokka only had a few moments to ponder what the glowing thing was when something exploded upwards from where the glow was. Once again, Sokka clung desperately as waves knocked the piece of ice they were on around.

After a few terrifying moments where he was sure they were going to end up in the water, the ice settled. "Is it over?" Sokka asked aloud, opening his eyes and looking to his sister to make sure she was okay. Where only moments before Katara was clinging on for dear life, she was now gone. "Katara?" He asked, not believing that she wasn't there, "Katara!" He yelled, worry creeping into his voice. He was worried she might have fallen into the water.

"Over here!"

Sokka looked around, spotting his sister a ways off, she was quickly jumping from ice chunk to ice chunk. Heading towards the glowing ball of ice. "Katara, what are you doing?" He called to her.

"There's something in the ice!" She called back leaping to another chunk of ice. Almost to the halfway point. "I think it's a person, we've got to help!"

Sokka sighed. "Great, just great, go towards the weird thing." He grumbled, moving to follow his sister. "Cause that's a great plan." Moving across the ice proved to be extremely difficult for him. The pieces shifted and moved when he jumped, threatening to dump him in the water with one false move. By the time he made it to the glowing iceberg, Katara was trying to chip away at the ice. Fortunately, there was a small ridge on the edge for them to stand on.

After his last jump, where he landed like a fish out of water, he took a few moments to catch his breath. Even with the strength training he has been doing, those leaps where almost impossible to make. "Don't bother Katara, that's solid ice. You won't be able to break that by digging at it, and all my tools are somewhere at the bottom of the sea. At least my boomerang is safe." he said, unconsciously checking the holster on his back.

Katara turned yelling, "We have to try. Just because the 'all mighty Sokka' thinks I can't do it doesn't mean I should stop." She turned back to her digging, which was more of a scratching, of the ice.

Slowly getting to his feet, Sokka walked over and pulled his sister away from the ice. "You need to stop Katara. Barely escaping death a few times might make you think you can do anything, but there are limits to what you can do. Digging through solid ice with your bare hands simply impossible."

Katara glared back at his brother, "No." she stated stubbornly. The only thing stopping her from going back to work was Sokka standing in her way.

"Look, we need to get back to the village and get some equipment to dig him out."

"You just want to leave him here! He needs our help and you want to just walk away? I can't believe you! This is just like you to turn your back on people who need us!"

"I'm not turning my back on him, there's just nothing we can do. We have to get back to the village before night falls. We'll freeze to death if we don't. I made a promise to dad..."

"Yes, yes, to protect me." Katara interrupted throwing her hands into the air in disgust. "This is just like you, using dad to do whatever you want. Ever since he left you've been skimping chores and running around with the little kids, with lame excuses like that it's warrior practice, while I stay and do all the work you were supposed to do." She advanced with an angry glare on her face. "We have a responsibility to help those in need!" She yelled poking Sokka in the chest. "You always go on and on about how you have a duty to protect us, but the first moment of real work and you run away!"

"You don't understand anything, Katara". Sokka said, knocking Katara's hand away from him. "You couldn't because you're just a girl, not a warrior like me. I have to look past the simple situation and look ahead at the big picture. You're just being silly..."

"SILLY!?" She screamed, her anger flaring up again, "At least I'm not a sexist, lazy, irresponsible, clumsy, idiot like you! I'm ashamed to even be related to you!" Crossing her arms, Katara turned away in disgust. "Go away Sokka, I don't need your help."

"Come on Katara, don't be like that. You and I both know you won't make it back to the village on your own." He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

As soon as his hand touched her, Katara turned, using one of her arms to knock his hand away. At the same time, she tried to push him away with the other, yelling "Go AWAY!"

As soon as Katara started moving, a dark chill overcame Sokka. He didn't know if it was the way she moved or if it was the tone of her voice. All he knew was that he needed to be somewhere other then where he was standing. Time seemed to slow down as months of training sessions flashed before his eyes.

Before he knew what he was doing and why, Sokka leapt to the side with all his strength. As he sailed through the air, Sokka looked back and was shocked to see a blast of water pass through the space he was just standing in. He watched, awestruck, as the blast slammed into the ice glacier.

In Sokka's many years of living in the south pole, he had never seen ice explode. He had seen glaciers crack, split, shatter, and melt, but never explode. His mind took in every amazing detail as glowing blue ice flew in all directions. It only took a split second to notice the shards of ice rushing towards him.

Operating on instincts alone, he curled into a ball, only moments before he was pelted with a multitude of ice. He only had one thought cross his mind before he was knocked unconscious. "I really have to stop making her so angry."

1234567890987654321

At the time, I really didn't have a clue as to what was going on. I don't believe in coincidences anymore, the chain of events that were strung together went back hundreds of years. I don't want to say it was fate that put me at that iceberg, but I do find it odd there was a fire nation ship so close. The universe, it seems, had decided to get the ball rolling, all the players had arrived. It was time for the world to change.

1234567890987654321

On the deck of this boat, a young teenager trained. As he moved through the forms, it was almost like a dance. One that required him to attack, block, and dodge imaginary enemies at the appropriate times. Nearby, an old man sat at a large circular table. Across from him sat a much younger man. Arrayed before them, a number of small tokens sat, representing the game they were playing.

"I've seen this attack before, uncle." The man stated, putting down another tile. "You're getting predictable."

The old man took a sip of tea before he replied, "This formation is like a mountain. You may recognize it's shape, but until you conquer it, it is no more then a pile of rocks. Something to walk around." He calmly placed another token on the board. Have you discovered a way to conquer this mountain, Zuren?"

"Perhaps..." the man mused. Without looking away, he called out to the practicing teen, "Zuzu... you're getting sloppy! I'm not even a bender and I can tell you're screwing up your forms."

Zuko growled and turned to face the man. "I'd be able to focus better without your big mouth flapping all the time. I swear, for a dyspnoean[1], you sure love to comment on the art of bending."

"Zuko!" The old man chastised. "That is no way to talk to your cousin. He may not be a bender, but he is a veteran solider. This demands your respect." He stood, walking up to Zuko, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You seem frustrated with this form. Maybe now would be a good time to take a break." he suggested, his tone softening. "Come, I'll pour you a cup of delicious tea."

Grumbling, Zuko allowed the old man to guide him back towards the table. They went only a few steps before they heard a muffled explosion in the distance. Turning, Zuko spotted a beam of blue light, shooting into the sky. He broke out of his uncle's grasp and took a few steps forward. "I've finally found you." he murmured to himself.

Behind him, the two men looked at each other, sharing a thought. Zuren nodded slightly and the old man turned back to face Zuko. He opened his mouth to say something when Zuko suddenly yelled out.

"Helmsman!" He commanded, "Set course for the light at best speed!"

"Are you sure you want to do this Prince Zuko?" the old man asked, "It could just be the celestial lights. We've been down this path before. I don't want you to get your hopes up again. "

"This time is different, uncle, I can feel it." Zuko said stubbornly. "This time I will find the avatar. His years of hiding from the fire nation are over."

"Your great grand father, grand father, and even your own father have all tried and failed to find the avatar. It is a fool's errand, all who have attempted it have failed."

"None of them had their honor dependent on finding him. That is why I will find him. I'm sure of it." He turned to his cousin, who was still sitting at the table. "Zuren, prepare the troops, we will make landfall soon."

Zuren turned to the elder man, "Sir?" he asked.

"Do it." He commanded.

In an instant, Zuren was standing at attention. "Sir!" He barked, saluting the elder man. He then turned and marched off, into the bowels of the ship.

"Soon," Zuko said, turning back to the light. "all my searching will come to an end."

1234567890987654321

One of the worst parts about regaining consciousness underwater is that you instinctively want to take a breath. If you were some sort of fish person, that would be fine, but for normal people like you and me, it's deadly. The arctic water not only drowns you, but cools your body. There is also the shock to worry about, that alone can kill you.

Fortunately, Sokka woke up the moment he hit the water. Trying his best not to breath in a lung full of water, he swam frantically to the surface. It only took a moment, but Sokka knew his next few moves were critical. If he didn't get dry and warm fast, he would freeze to death shortly.

Breaking the surface, he coughed up the water that he accidentally breathed in and looked around. "Whoa." He said, looking at the pillar of light that was slowly fading away.

In the back of his mind he heard "GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR!"

Shaking himself loose from his stupor, he started to swim, well flail, towards the glacier. Sokka never learned how to swim since the only time he spent in the water was when he fell in. Somehow, he made it to the glacier and started to try and climb out. His arms were week from the effort of getting him to the glacier and it was all he could do to just cling to the ice, shivering in an attempt to stay warm.

He felt a pair of hands grab onto him and drag him out of the water. Looking up, he saw Katara and some strange new boy in bright orange colored clothes working to pull him out of the water.

"We have to get him dry Aang." Katara said, "I'd normally change him out of his wet clothes, but we lost all of our gear. I don't know what to do!"

"I should have some tarps on Appa. We could wrap him in that." The bald kid offered. "I'll go get it." Hopping up, he ran towards the the center of the iceberg.

Sokka reached up and grasped Katara's arm. "There's another way." He said, barely controlling his chattering teeth. "I just need to get dry. You can get the water out of my clothes."

"You mean bend the water out? I've never tried anything like that before. You never let me."

"I'm already soaked, you won't get me any more wet. All you gotta do is calm down and focus."

"But..."

"No buts, you have to try now or I start losing fingers and toes." Katara remained quiet. "Good, now take a deep breath and release it. Try to relax and open your thoughts to your surroundings. Try to picture the iceberg and all of us on it.

Following his instructions Katara closed her eyes, breathing deeply. "Woah," Katara breathed, "the water is... moving. Even the water that is in your clothes. Why did I never notice this?"

"You never looked." Sokka stated through blue lips. "Now, picture only the water in my clothes coming towards you. Feel free to move your body in a way that feels 'right'."

"'Right'? What do you mean?"

"It's a bender thing." Sokka said sleepily, "Do... what feels... natural."

Katara nodded and closed her eyes. She knew Sokka was almost out of time. If he fell asleep, he was not waking back up. She focused all her thoughts on pulling the water out. When it felt right, she swept her hands towards her, trying to pull the water as well.

A small stream a water, followed by her brother crashed into her, knocking her over.

"Owies," Sokka groaned, "try it again with a little less force. Coax the water out."

Katara pushed Sokka off of her and stood up. "Great, now I'm damp too." she idly murmured. Cupping her hands and swept off her front. When she did, all the water on her clothes flew off and landed on the ice. She didn't have time to think about it, Sokka was in trouble.

She took position over Sokka, and following her instincts, started to slowly twirl her hands in front of her, making a pushing and pulling motion. She then moved her hands in a sweeping motion over Sokka. The water mirrored her movements and started to flow away. After a few sweeps of her hands, his clothes were dry.

"Katara!" Aang called, running up with a tarp gripped in his arms. "This was all I could find."

"Good, lay it out." She said, kneeling down and pulling off a glove to put a hand on her brother. "We need to get Sokka off the ice and... he's still so cold!" she yelled, gripping Sokka with both hands and shaking lightly. "Sokka? You okay?"

Sokka didn't respond. His limp neck let his head roll around. "Sokka!?" she yelled more loudly. "Wake up Sokka!" placing her ear next to his mouth, she tried to hear if he was still breathing.

The world seemed to slow down as Katara listened for a sign that Sokka was still alive. After a moment, a faint breeze blew across her ear as his chest rose and fell slowly. "Oh thank goodness." She said. "He's still breathing." Standing up she gripped him by his shoulders. "Grab his legs, Aang. Lets get him on the tarp."

After a moment of struggling, they got Sokka onto the tarp. "We really need to get back to the village." Katara said. "You don't happen to have a boat frozen in there do you?"

"Naw, I've got something better." Aang gloated, "I'll go get him." Bounding away for a moment, he came back with one of the biggest creatures she had ever seen. Bigger then the nastiest bear-seal and a lot fluffier.

"What is that?" Katara asked.

"This, is Appa. He's my flying bison."

"Flying?"

"Let's get your brother loaded onto Appa and we'll be soaring through the skies in no time."

Shrugging slightly, Katara picked up one side of the tarp. With Aang on the other, they were able to pull Sokka into the over sized saddle on Appa's back. Once on, Aang hopped to Appa's head where a pair of reigns were tied between his horns.

"Okay all first time fliers, make sure to hold on. Appa! Yip yip!" Aang called. With a mighty leap, the large bison leaped into the air, he seemed to float for a few moments before crashing back to the water.

"Come on Appa! Yip! Yip!." Aang called again. The beast did not reply. Lazily paddling through the water. Looking back embarrassed, Aang said "Appa's just tired. He needs to rest a bit before he can start flying again."

"I'm sure he will, but for now have him head east. Our village isn't too far away." Katara moved next to the tarp that Sokka was wrapped in. She reached up and started to loosen the ties on her outer dress.

"Uhhh, Katara?" Aang asked, "what are you doing?"

"Sokka's probably freezing, I'm going to keep him warm with my own body heat until we get back to the village." She answered matter-of-factly, crawling under the tarp and hugging her shivering brother.

Turning back to guide Appa, Aang thought to himself. "I guess there are perks to almost freezing to death. Who knew?"

Blocking out the world around him, Sokka was trying to stay awake. He mental ran through his fighting forms and focused on keeping his body shivering. "Sokka," he heard Ranma's voice say. "shivering won't get you warm any time soon. I know a way to get you better a lot faster."

"Not now," Sokka thought trying to ignore what Ranma said, "too busy freezing to death here."

"Nonsense!" Ranma chimed happily, "the best training happens when imminent death looms in the horizon. I learned all my best techniques when something was just about to kill me."

"But I'm not going to die." Sokka groaned, "Katara is going to keep me warm for now and when we get back to the village I can warm up next to Gran-gran's cooking fire. No need for lessons. Now leave me alone and let me shiver in peace."

"Fine!" Ranma yelled, "see if I ever give you any more secret martial arts techniques. I know when I'm not wanted." Even though Sokka knew it was just a voice in his head, he could tell that if Ranma was in person, he would have turned away in a huff.

This confused Sokka, Ranma was normally a good teacher, patient and encouraging, if you didn't take his insults personally. Ranma's tone was a little different. Shrugging mentally, Sokka thought, "Fine, tell me this 'amazing technique'." When Ranma didn't answer, Sokka continued. "I'm sorry that I rejected your gracious offer to train me. Almost dying is no excuse for not learning a new technique."

The change was almost immediate. "Glad you see it my way." Ranma happily stated, "Now, the problem with cold is that it slows down your body. It's like forcing yourself into meditative lstate, only if you go too far, your body can't recover and you die. The human body was designed for warm climates, where it's cold only a short period of time. You need to override your ingrained responses and speed up your body."

"That's great Ranma, how would I do this?"

"It's all about getting your bodies energy to flow again. You have to first focus your energy like we do in meditation. That will warm your core. Once you have warmed your core, you can push that warmth to your limbs."

Sokka knew, from earlier practices, that once Ranma had given you a task, he wanted you to shut up and do what he said. As he focused on the warm ball of energy within him, he stopped shivering. After a time, he felt a warm tingling sensation spread through his chest.

In Sokka's mind, he envisioned the warmth spreading outward. Pushing the cold into his core to be warmed. As it heated, he was able to push it out into his body again. Energy was soon flowing everywhere, weaving through his body.

After a time, Sokka was finished heating his energy and took a moment to take in what he did. The energy that weaved through his body felt good. It was like he had a just finished a buffet of tasty meats.

"Way to go Sokka." Ranma praised, "It only took you a few hours to recover from that. We'll have to work on that next time we train."

Sokka shifted, waking Katara who was dozing on his chest. "You know sis, I know I'm the best looking guy in the village, but we really have to stop doing this. People will start to talk." He said with a smirk.

"You ungrateful jerk." She growled, pushing away from him, pulling closed her outer clothing.

"You're welcome." Sokka said sitting up. Throwing off the tarp and starting to put his own parka back on. "You almost kill me all the time, so it's only fair that you save me once in a while."

Throwing her hands up in disgust Katara yelled, "You are unbelievable, you know that? Next time, I'll let you freeze to death!"

"Well if you didn't tag along, it'd be safer for everyone involved." Sokka ranted, his tone getting angrier as he went on. "Even though I've told you about a million times not to play with your magic water, you still do, and every time someone gets hurt. That someone usually happens to be me! So don't get all prissy when I don't thank you from saving me from yourself!"

Glaring at Sokka, Katara growled and unconsciously moved her hands to the side, flexing her fingers. The water around them responded to Katara's anger by becoming choppy.

Aang, who had been napping on Appa's head suddenly awoke when Appa growled in panic as the rough seas unnerving him. He turned just in time to see Katara angrily bend a stream of water out of the ocean and towards her brother. Amazingly, Sokka rolled out of the way, coming to rest right in front of Aang.

"Hey!" Sokka yelled, "Quit it!"

"NO!" Katara barked, "Not until you apologize for being such a massive jerk!" Another stream of water flew out of the ocean towards Sokka. This time Aang sprung into action, leaping over Sokka and using his glider to deflect the stream of water to the side.

"No fighting on Appa you two!" Aang commanded. "You should be ashamed of yourselves, family are supposed to look out for each other. Not try to hurt one another."

"Hey now, that's not fair." Sokka countered, "Katara and I argue all the time, we don't ever try to intentionally hurt each other. Right Katara?"

Katara just turned away, not responding.

"Katara?" Sokka asked moving to kneel behind her. "Come on, it was just a little argument, it's no biggie."

"No biggie?" Katara asked, voice shaking. "You almost die and you treat it like it's nothing! This isn't like the other times, you really could have died if we didn't get you dried out and warmed up so fast." She turned her head, showing the tears that were streaming down her face. "I was really worried."

Sokka smiled warmly and put a hand on Katara's shoulder. "It'll take more then some cold water to kill me sis." They stayed like that for a moment, before Sokka turned toward Aang. "Besides We're veering off course, we need to head more south."

At first, Aang didn't respond, he seemed to be distracted by something. He then focused back on Sokka and smiled. "Right, south... Got it." He then turned to go back to guiding Appa.

Sokka sat, watching for the ice formations that marked the way back to the village. After a moment, a he heard a voice in the back of his mind. "You know, the kid's right. You really should ease up on your little sister."

"Thanks for the input, Ranma." Sokka thought sarcastically. "We've been like this since before I met you. Maybe if we could figure out a way to convince her to stop bending, we'd all be better off."

"I don't think that going to happen, Sokka." Ranma said sympathetically. "A bender's gift is a part of their identity. You can't just turn it off. She was given that gift for a reason."

"I know." Sokka replied sadly. "I just wish..." A particular ice formation caught Sokka's eye and he called out. "Hey, kid..."

"My name is Aang." Said the boy interrupted turning to face Sokka.

"Whatever." Sokka pointed to a seemingly random point on the ice ridge that was coming into view. "There is a small break in the ice there that we need to go through to get to the village. It's big enough to get a large boat through and will open up to a protected ice harbor. You can drop us off there, and then you can head to wherever your home is."

"What?" Katara interrupted finally calming down from her previous tears. "Aang is taking us to safety and you just want him to leave? We owe him a favor and should at least let him rest until he's recovered from being frozen in ice for who knows how long."

Sokka thought about this for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Fine, the kid can stay until his bison's all better. Then he needs to be on his way. There is too much work to be done around the village for us to have guests getting in the way." He moved towards the side of the saddle and sat down to watch the ice go by.

Katara moved carefully to the front of the saddle. "Don't mind Sokka, he's not normally this big of a grouch." She said happily.

"It's okay..." Aang replied, "I'm sure he'll be in a better mood once I get you both home."

"So where do you call home, Aang?" Katara asked. "I bet your family is worried about you, who knows how long you've been stuck in the ice."

"Well... I don't have a family like most people. I live in the southern air temple under the care of the monks. Most air benders learn from the monks until they become old enough to be chosen by a sky bison. When that happens, we are free to go wherever we want. Usually, small groups of friends tour the air temples before going their separate ways, to soar above the clouds and begin their journey of spiritual enlightenment."

"Wow, that sounds like an amazing adventure. Though it does sound like it would be a lonely way to go through life. To travel by yourself without friends to keep you company."

Aang chuckled before replying. "Air nomads are never really alone. They are always with their sky bison. Appa here is my best friend. Isn't that right buddy?" He asked, patting Appa gently. In response, the bison growled an affirmative. "Besides, air nomads meet new people wherever they go and build friendships with many of them. I have friends all over the world from when I toured the different temples."

As they talked, they reached the gap in the ice ridge. It was more then wide enough to allow Appa through. Once on the other side, the narrow passage opened up to a large protected harbor. With enough space to house dozens of boats, but it was completely empty. There was strangely no signs that anyone used the harbor.

"You must be considered an adult by your people." Katara said, "Having a Sky Bison and traveling all over the world."

"Well... Kinda.." Aang replied, embarrassed for some reason. "I'm sort of a fluke when it comes to having a bison. Usually, they don't choose someone as young as me. I'm only twelve, but I like to think that I'm very mature for my age. Though I still like to have fun." Aang then quickly changed the topic. "Since I'm here in the south pole, I was hoping to go penguin sledding."

"It's been forever since I went sledding. We normally have too many chores to go have fun like that." When she saw Aang's crestfallen look she hastily added, "Though I think I can find time to go with you, since you've never tried it before."

The change in Aang's mood was instantaneous. "Great!" he exclaimed, "I can't wait."

At that moment, Sokka cleared his throat to get their attention. "Hey kid, let's get out of the water. We'll need to walk the rest of the way. The village is on the other side of that hill."

Following orders, Aang angled Appa to the more solid frozen ice which was strangely sloped to allow Appa to easily leave the water. As soon as the group were on solid ice, Sokka hopped off and started walking towards the nearby hills. "This way." he commanded, walking away quickly.

Aang looked nervously at Katara not sure of Sokka's tone. Katara simply shrugged and Aang urged Appa to follow. After a few moments, Aang spotted small wisps of smoke coming from the other side of a wall made of snow. In moments, they passed through a break in the wall that had a crude bone barrier sitting beside it. It looked like some sort of gate.

The village itself was just a collection of animal skin tents surrounded by a short wall of ice. On the far side of the village, was the only permanent structure. A hut held up by large animal bones and covered with a thick hide. Sokka did not stop as he walked towards the hut.

"Let's wait here for Sokka to finish talking with Gran-Gran, Aang." Katara said, getting off of Appa. "I can introduce you to some of the villagers while we wait."

As Sokka entered the tent, he spotted his grandmother preparing meats to be cooked. Before he could get more then a few steps he heard a female voice call out from behind him. "Sokka, you little brat, how many time do I have to tell you not to take a boat on your own?"

"I wasn't alone, Soma." Sokka replied, turning around to face the young woman and constant thorn in his side. "I took Katara with me, so it's no big deal." The woman in question was one of the younger women of the tribe. Still quite beautiful, when she wasn't scowling, which she seemed to always do when talking to Sokka.

"Your dear departed mother, rest her soul, made me promise to look after you. I can't do that when you run off with your sister whenever you feel like it. We don't have enough boats as it is, I can't have you taking joy rides when we need to be out fishing."

"Fine, whatever you say, Soma." Sokka grated, waving his hand dismissively. "Now please go away, I need to talk to Gran-Gran."

"Don't you talk like that to me you little..." Soma started when the old woman interrupted her.

"Soma," she commanded, "I will instruct to my grandchild in the proper way to address his fellow tribeswomen. I believe you still have today's catch to tend to."

"Yes elder." Soma replied sternly, bowing quickly, then walked out, grumbling under her breath.

Once she was gone, the elder turned to address Sokka, "You should be more respectful to Soma, she works hard to feed that seemingly bottomless stomach of yours. You might find her more agreeable if you tried to follow her directions."

"I know Gran-gran. She wants to mother me, but she's not my mother. Besides, I don't want to talk to you about that. Me and Katara found a weird kid when we were out. He was frozen in a giant block of ice. I think he's trouble, but Katara won't let me tell him to go away. Can you tell him to leave? Katara won't argue with you."

Gran-gran sighed and shook her head sadly. "You know I won't do that Sokka. The water tribe has always welcomed those who come to us without ill intent. Unless you can give me proof that he is danger, he may remain." Sokka attempted to stare down his grandmother, but only for a moment. His status as leader of the tribe was only with Gran-gran's blessing. He couldn't disobey once she made a ruling.

"Fine, the kid can stay, but I won't risk endangering the tribe. Pass the word that we are moving to the secondary encampment. If the kid wants to come with us, he can help carry something."

"Very well, I will do as you command, little chieftain." Gran-gran said with a smile.

Sokka tried his best not to show how annoying being called that was as he turned to leave. Once outside, he let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding.

"You handled that rather well." Sokka heard as he walked to his tent. "You're going to make a great leader when you grow up, little chieftain."

"Grrr... Don't call me that, Ranma." Sokka thought angrily. "I've got a feeling that something bad is on the horizon. Like a terrible storm is brewing. Remember when that bear-seal attacked a few years back? It's like that."

"It's good that you listen to your instincts, they are normally right. I have a feeling that Aang is a good kid, you shouldn't be so hard on him. As an airbender, he could be helpful to the village if you'd only show him a little respect."

Sokka sighed as he opened up his tent and started digging through his things. "Don't you start with that too. First Soma and now the kid, someone has to be the tough one here. I can't let people walk all over me. Dad said I should always stand up for what I believe in. I believe that kid is trouble and we should get him out of here before he brings the fire nation down on all of our heads. The only thing keeping us alive is that the fire nation thinks we're extinct. Do I have to remind you that I... we were tasked with keeping the village safe until the men returned?" He pulled a hardened hide case out of his pack. He waited for Ranma's reply as he opened it and pulled out a small spyglass. When Ranma didn't respond, Sokka thought, "Fine, be that way. I'm going up to see if any Fire nation patrols are in the area." With that, Sokka left his tent and started his trek to the ridge, it made a great lookout spot and would prevent anyone else from irritating him further.

Meanwhile, Katara was introducing Aang to the various women of the tribe. Aang was doing his best to properly greet them, but his eyes kept moving back to watch Katara.

"I know Sokka never listens," a woman's irritated voice called out, "but I thought you were better raised not to disobey your elders."

"I'm sorry about the boat Soma," Katara responded, turning towards the approaching woman, "but Sokka was dead set on going out." She grabbed Aang's arm. "It was a good thing too, Aang here was in need of our help."

"Yeah," Aang added cheerfully, "I'd be lost without Katara. So please don't be too mad at her, I'm sure you can trade for a boat from one of the other southern water tribes."

Both Katara and Soma were stunned for a moment by what Aang said. The shared a look before Katara spoke up. "Umm Aang, there has only been one southern water tribe for generations. Ever since the war."

"War? What war?" Aang asked, confused.

"What iceberg did you find this kid on?" Soma asked, "The fire nation has been attacking the other nations for years. The southern water tribe fought and lost the war. The fire nation tried to exterminate us to prevent us from ever being a threat to them again. We're the only tribe to survive the genocide. They're a bunch of villains bent on world conquest, uncaring about anyone but themselves."

"What? I have friends all over the world, even in the fire nation. They are good people, and have no reason to attack anyone else."

"They seem to have found a reason," Soma countered, "all the murdered water tribe families are proof of that."

Aang opened his mouth to reply, but Katara stepped in front of him and interrupted. "Leave him alone Soma. We don't know how long he was trapped in the ice. Don't you have better things to do then argue with someone who's not up to date on current news?"

Soma just glared for a moment before turning away. "Someone has to feed the village." She grumbled, "Katara, you should tell your new friend about all the ancient history he missed out on. I don't know how someone could be so out of the loop."

"What's this about a war?" Aang asked once Soma was out of earshot, "Last I knew, the world was prospering under a long peace. People were happy and the nations all lived in harmony."

"Well it happened just about a hundred years ago. The fire nation started attacking the different nations. At first it was just skirmishes and then, bigger battles. From what the elders say, both sides were deadlocked, unable to gain an advantage over each other. Then the comet came. It made the fire nation incredibly strong, they launched a massive assault that devastated everything in their path. Soon after, the southern water tribes banded their remaining forces together for one final battle that we lost. Then the raiding started and we were reduced to a single tribe. We've been hiding from the fire nation ever since."

To say Aang was stunned was an understatement. He was speechless, the south pole used to be teeming with people. Going about their daily lives, happily living off the ice. To find out that this once great nation was reduced to a tiny village, appalled Aang. How could anyone be so ruthless?

Katara noticed the dark look on Aang's face and reached out and nudged him slightly. "I know it's a lot to take in. I guess growing up with it makes it easier to cope with." When Aang's mood didn't improve, Katara tried a different tactic. "Didn't you say you wanted to go penguin sledding? It's a little known fact that sadness scares away the penguins." Katara was rewarded with a slight smile from Aang.

"Sure Katara, I'd love to."

Katara reached out and grabbed Aang's hand, leading him away from the village. She didn't notice, but that had a more immediate effect on Aang then the promise of sledding. He got a goofy grin on his face, all thoughts of war mongering fire nation warriors banished from his mind.

Soon, with the help of a couple of small fish, the pair had caught a pair of ice penguins and were sliding across the ice. The quickly speed away from the village, over hills and though tunnels, both laughing happily, enjoying the ride. While Katara was a more careful sledder, Aang was a reckless showoff.

"Hey Katara, watch this!" Aang called out, spotting a bump in the ice that would make a great jump. Using a blast of air to propel him forward he shot up the natural ramp. Aang flew into the air, performing a roll with his penguin and landing on the opposite side of Katara. "Pretty cool huh?" He asked as they rocketed along a flat section of ice.

"Nice one Aang!" Katara called out, "I had forgotten how much fun this was!" She watched as Aang, maneuvered for another jump. Just as Aang rocketed forward on another gust of wind, the ice in front of Katara exploded upwards. She frantically swerved her penguin but was unable to prevent from smashing into the broken ice sending her flying though the air. As she flew Katara head a roar that turned her blood cold. She instantly recognized it as a killer whale-wolf. As big as a dozen tents, these carnivorous monsters were rare, but had been known to eat small boats when ample fish were not available. She had only seen them a few times before in her life. The last time was watching it devour a pod of seal-turtles. She still, on occasion, had nightmares of that massacre.

As she landed and slid across the ice, she heard the stunned penguin panic and try to crawl away. The squawking penguin didn't get far as the Killer whale-wolf, who was now on the ice, easily caught up and used a claw to knock the penguin to the ice. Its massive jaws came down and tore into the creature's flesh. In moments, the carcase was devoured. The killer whale-wolf then began to search for more prey. Katara watched silently, trying desperately not to panic. She knew that killer whale-wolfs had poor eyesight and relied mainly on their nose and hearing to hunt. As long as it didn't smell her, it would hopefully leave, looking for food elsewhere.

When a hand was placed on her shoulder, it was all she could do not to scream out. Turning she saw Aang, with a concerned look on his face. He opened his mouth to say something and Katara quickly clapped a hand across his mouth. Even with the thick mitten, she could still hear the muffled question. There was a split second where Katara hoped that the monster behind her didn't hear it.

A massive roar dashed those hopes. Time seemed to slow down as she turned around. The killer whale-wolf was charging across the ice, quickly closing the distance between them. There was a rustling of wind and Katara watched as Aang shot past her, taking on the monster head on. Just before impact, Aang rolled impossibly in the air and trust out his hands as he passed. A massive gust of wind blew the creature off course sliding by Katara, just out of paw range. Katara watched in awe as the creature recovered from the attack, shifting it's weight into a controlled slide. As it slowed, it turned around, preparing for another charge.

Again, the creature rushed towards her. This time, however, there was a horrible rumble and the ice below the beast suddenly shot upwards, knocking the beast high into the air. She watched, amazed as a glowing Aang leapt impossibly high, flipping in the air and delivering a kick to the side of the beast. This time, a more massive blast of air sent the killer whale-wolf rocketing away. As Aang floated to the ground, she could faintly hear a distant splash. As soon as Aang touched the ice, he stopped glowing and slumped to the ground.

"Aang!" Katara called out, running towards the fallen boy. She slid to a stop next to him and keeled to check and make sure he was still alive. Gently holding his head in her lap, asked, "Aang, are you okay?"

He responded with a moan as he opened his eyes, "Ugh, yea... I'm okay, Katara. What happened?"

"I don't know. One moment, that killer whale-wolf was going to make a meal out of me, and the next, you water bended the ice to knock it into the air, then air-blasting it away. You never said you could water bend."

Sitting up, Aang replied, "I can't. At least, I don't remember ever doing any water bending."

"Maybe you just haven't learned how yet." Katara suggested. "I didn't know I was a bender until my first time. Maybe there is something special about you that lets you bend both Air and water."

"Yea..." Aang replied sadly before quickly perking up. "That's gotta be it. " he agreed quickly, chuckling nervously for a moment.

Katara opened her mouth to ask another question when she heard a distant roar. "Maybe we should get out of here before that monster comes back." She suggested, saving the question she had on her mind for later.

Aang just smiled and scooped up Katara into his arms, "I can get you back in no time."

Before Katara could protest, he rocketed into the air. To her credit, she didn't scream, but she did close her eyes and hold on for dear life. As they landed and shot up again, she realized what Aang was doing. She peaked open her eyes and watched the ice shoot away and then come rushing back with every leap. After a few jumps, Katara started enjoying the ride, and turned to see where they were going. Each leap ate up the distance between the pair and the village. It what seemed like only a moment, they were back at the village.

"Here we go," Aang said, setting Katara back on her feet, "back home, safe and sound."

"That was amazing, Aang." Katara exclaimed, before she could say more, the small children had all crowded around Aang. The yelled out, asking to go flying as well. Aang laughed and started showing off his bending to the kids. Katara watched, smiling and laughing at Aang's antics.

1234567890987654321

The village children were not the only ones who witnessed Aang's feats of air bending. On the bridge balcony, a number of troops were scanning the surrounding ice flows. Armed with a number of telescopes, these troops were looking for anything out of the ordinary. Down on the deck, Zuren and his men were preparing for the possibility of a battle. It was a ritual that his squads did every morning and before any major battles. A light warm-up followed by stretching, an equipment check and then a synchronized kata designed to make sure the armor was secured properly. At the front of the ship, Iroh stood next to Zuko who was scanning the ocean waters.

"Zuko, you should head inside." Iroh suggested gently, "You've been out here for the last hour as it is, you'll catch a cold if you're not careful."

"I don't need to be babied, uncle." Zuko stubbornly replied, "This time it must be the avatar, it's my first real chance to find him and I won't miss this opportunity."

"Your cousin has a number of men already on lookout for any sign of the avatar. You should trust in his men to follow their orders. A leader can not do everything themselves, you should learn when to let others share your burden. If you showed some faith in them, they would be more likely to return the favor."

Signing quietly, Zuko turned to look at his uncle. "Catching the avatar is my task, my honor depends on it. I cannot delegate regaining my honor to another. I am the only one who can restore it." He paused before adding, "Thank you for your concern though, uncle."

Iroh smiled and was about to respond as the sound of a nearby roar was heard. Zuko turned towards the noise to watch as some massive beast came sailing through the air. It flew over the boat and crashed into the water a few hundred meters away. The crew immediately bust into action, with troops moving to the edges of the boat. Many drew bows, knocking an arrow, and prepared to fire at any enemy that might attack. The ship engines were turned off and the boat came to a stop.

A few moments passed before the creature burst through the water and let out a fierce howl. It then dived back into the water and disappeared. The men waited, wondering if the beast would try it's luck attacking their boat. After a few minutes, one of the squad captains called them to stand down. A majority of the troops, went back to their preparations. The rest remained at their post, scanning the water for a possible sneak attack.

"That's got to be him." Zuko exclaimed, running down the deck, heading for the bridge.

Up at the bridge, Zuren, who ran to the bridge when the beast howled the first time, had commandeered a telescope. "Is it still in sight Baku?" He asked the man standing next to him who was tracking something in the distance.

"Yes sir," Replied the older man. "It's probably an air bender, sir. I've never seen a water bender travel like that before. No normal human can jump like that, especially carrying something else." Before joining Zuren's platoon, he had spent most of his career fighting in the south pole. As an expert on water benders, he was the best that the fire nation had to offer. Even with missing a few fingers from the many battles he had been in, he was still a capable warrior.

"Keep on him, he's moving too fast for me to spot him." Zuren directed. "He's probably heading towards a hidden village. I don't want to loose him in the snow." Zuren then turned and walked back into the bridge. Turning to the captain he ordered. "Bring the ship closer to the glacier. Have your men search for a suitable landing site. I will be taking a squad of men ashore to search for a settlement."

The captain snapped to attention responding with a, "Yes sir!" before turning to the helmsman. "Helm! ring up half bell and set bearing 20 degrees to starboard." The helmsman responded, setting the wheel and turning the handle on the chadburn to the correct speed. After a moment, they could hear the sound of the propeller starting, and the boat began to move.

Zuren handed his telescope back to the captain, "I'm going down to prepare the landing party. Send a runner as soon as you find a place to land." He then left the bridge, as Zuko came running up the hall.

"Zuren, I think it's the avatar, we need to follow him!" Zuko demanded.

"Calm down Zuzu," Zuren said, putting a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "The ships crew is tracking someone who is acting like an air nomad. They are currently looking for a place to make land fall and we will send out a scouting party as soon as possible. My men have this covered, you should prepare in case it is really the avatar this time."

Shrugging off his cousin's hand, Zuko stated growled, "I was born ready." He then brushed past Zuren. Heading towards the bridge.

"And stay off the bridge." Zuren commanded. "They have enough work to do without you underfoot." He watched as Zuko stopped, turned and then head back down the hallway towards his room, grumbling. Once he was out of sight, Zuren sighed, glad that Zuko still followed his orders. Zuko had been getting more and more angry as the years of searching wore on him. The many false leads over the years have soured Zuko's general mood. Where Zuko once followed his directions without question, now it was a rare that anything he commanded would be followed by his cousin. Zuren hoped that it really was the avatar this time, he wasn't sure how much longer Zuko could last out here.

12345678987654321

From his vantage point on the edge of the glacier, Sokka watched the activities of the fire nation warship. It looked like they were going to pass them by, but then a flying killer whale-wolf changed everything. The warship was now moving towards the glacier, coming ever closer to his family.

Ditching his lookout post, Sokka ran back to the village as fast as he could. Fortunately, Ranma's training had him constantly running across the ice so he was able to make good time. As he passed the harbor, a few black snowflakes started to fall from the sky. Sokka tried to ignore the memories of the last time black snow fell and continued to push on. As he came into view of the camp, Soma was already waiting at the gate.

She opened her mouth to speak but Sokka cut her off. "Soma, get everyone organized to move." He panted, "A Fire Nation warship is closing in the village, it's not safe for us here anymore."

Soma paled and nodded, wordlessly turning and running into the village. That was the one thing Sokka liked about Soma; she could be a royal pain in the rear, but would follow orders when needed. Taking the time to catch his breath, Sokka listened to the sound of the village getting ready to move. They had practiced for this eventuality many times over the years so once the orders were called out the women quickly broke down the village and organized to leave. Sokka took some pride in his family that they didn't panic during a crisis. Time was running out and a few moments could mean the difference between life and death.

After he had caught his breath, Sokka headed into the village. He had to prepare as well. When he spotted Aang by Katara's tent, helping her pack her things, he immediately changed directions. "What do you think you're doing?" He demanded of the bald air nomad.

"Umm, helping Katara..." Aang replied nervously.

"I think you've helped us enough, kid." Sokka stated angrily, "We were perfectly safe before you showed up. Now we have a ship full of fire benders searching the area, and it's all your fault."

"Don't go blaming Aang about this, Sokka." Katara cut in. Moving between Sokka and Aang. "It's not his fault that a killer whale-wolf attacked us while penguin sledding."

"Penguin sledding!" Sokka exclaimed. "Why in the world were you penguin sledding?!"

"Umm... that was my idea." Aang answered sheepishly. "I've always wanted to go penguin sledding and it seemed like a good time to go."

Sokka smacked his hand to his forehead sighing loudly. "Of all the stupid things..." He mumbled to himself. Dropping his hand, Sokka looked at the kid. "Your little excursion has now put us all in danger. Now leave my family alone before you make things worse."

"But Sokka..." Katara started.

"No buts Katara." Sokka interrupted. "He was a guest before, but now he's a threat. He can either leave, be driven out, or find out how sharp water nation tribe weapons are, your choice kid. I'm going back to my tent to get my sword, you better be gone before I get back." With that, Sokka turned away and marched away.

Aang looked over to Katara, who seemed stunned by Sokka's words. "He wouldn't really try to kill me, would he?" Aang asked. Katara was at a loss of how to answer that question.

"Are you sure you want to take on an air nomad?" Sokka heard Ranma ask as he headed towards his tent. "You're not ready to take on a bender yet. Especially someone as good as Aang."

The angry facade had fallen from Sokka's face and the hidden nervousness was showing through. "Of course not," he thought, "you always remind me to know my limits. I was hoping to scare the kid enough to get him to finally leave. He's a complete wuss, but he's still nothing but trouble."

Ranma laughed before responding, "All benders are trouble, Sokka. I would think your sister had taught you that by now. I wouldn't write Aang off so easily, he might surprise you if you him a chance. That sky bison of his could help move quite a load, maybe some of the slower members of the tribe."

"No." Sokka replied, finally reaching his tent and entering. "We don't need help from outsiders." He grumbled as he picked up his sword. One of the few metal weapons the village had, it was a gift to the head chief of the southern water tribes from one of the earth kingdoms. It's been handed down between chiefs over generations. It was a sign of leadership, symbolizing the will of the village. Sokka hoped that it would give him enough courage to handle the air bender if he choose to stay.

12345678987654321

On the bridge of the nearby fire nation ship, a number of people stood around the navigation table. A map of a generic beach was spread across the surface. A number of flat tokens were stacked next the the map.

"So what should we expect Baku?" Zuren asked, "You have done this before, how does the water tribe fight?"

Across from Zuren, the man took a moment to think about his response. "As with most armies, they depend on their benders to do most of the heavy lifting. Fighting on ice is a major advantage that they capitalize on in almost every battle. Their only real weakness, if you can exploit it, is that they won't attack their own troops. If you can keep them busy with ranged attacks until your your normal troops can get close, they loose the ability to do some of the more flashy, area attacks."

Zuren glanced to his side, where Iroh was quietly observing the conversation. "It appears we need a numerical advantage in a direct battle." He started. "With our limited troops, we should avoid direct confrontation. Do you agree sir?"

"You are wise to not run blindly into battle, nephew." Iroh stated. "I believe a more diplomatic approach may suit our needs better then a show of force."

"We do have the scouting ship and the landing craft below deck." The ship's captain mentioned. "You can take the scouting ship into the harbor and then the landing craft to the shore. It would give your men a fallback position if things turn sour."

"The break in the ice is small and could be used to ambush us." Baku provided, "Iron ships, while strong, still sink like a stone when enough ice is piled on top of it. I've seen benders drop entire glaciers on ships that got too close to the ice."

"I don't suppose you can convince Zuko to stay here, uncle?" Zuren asked, already knowing the answer.

"You cousin is determined accomplish his goals." Iroh said, "He is too headstrong to sit this one out."

Zuren sighed and turned to the captain. "Prepare the boats, I will organize the landing party. We'll be leaving a majority of our forces here, have them ready to reinforce us if needed." Turning to the board, he placed a number of tokens on the board. "If we run into problems, We'll fire a signal flare. Will you be willing to lead the reinforcements general?" He said, looking to Iroh, who nodded. Zuren explained the formation that the reinforcements should initially take if called into service, and how the landing squads should fall back to allow the ship bound archers to fire.

When he finished, he asked the assembled men, "Are there any questions?" When no one spoke up, he continued. "Good, we leave as soon as the boats are ready. Let's hope we are not walking into a trap."

1234567890987654321

Back at the village, almost all of the tents have been packed and the the people were getting ready to move. The black snow was now falling in earnest. Turning the snow a familiar gray. Sokka tried to shake off old memories as he marched back to Katara's tent. When he arrived, he did not see Aang around.

"So was the kid smart and leave?" Sokka asked his sister.

"He's gone, you big jerk." Katara answered, continuing to pack her gear. "I hope you're happy."

"Finish packing, the village is almost ready to go." Sokka directed, ignoring the insults. We watched Katara work for a moment, when he heard someone walking up to him. He turn and spotted Soma walking up to him. She looked worried, which was never good. Sure she was angry or annoyed all the time, usually at him, but rarely worried.

"Sokka, we have a problem." She stated when she got close. "The kids spotted a small boat heading into the harbor. There's a large number of armored men on the deck. It's moving slow, but will be here soon."

"We're out of time, gather the villages and get moving." Sokka commanded, "Katara and I will catch up." Soma only paused for a moment, looking like she would protest. She instead just nodded and hurried away. Sokka cursed quietly, even if they village left now, the fire nation could still track them down easily. He needed to find a way to slow them down. Delay them until the village could get away.

"You know Sokka," he heard Ranma say, "with only one ship, it's unlikely that this is a raid. They are probably just looking for information. If someone stays behind to delay them, it may be enough for the rest of the village to escape."

"You mean me don't you." Sokka stated quietly.

"The fire nation are traditionally sticklers for protocol. They do have a way for leaders to meet before battle. It's called parley. It's from a time where the fire nation was just a collection of local warlords. Many battles were avoided by working out the problems that were going to cause the battle. If their leaders remember the old ways, that may be enough to get them to pause."

"Worth a shot." Sokka agreed quietly. He then walked over to his sister who had just finished packing all of her gear. "Katara." He said, his sister didn't answer at first, ignoring him as she picked up her pack. "Damn it Katara, don't ignore me, this is important."

That got her to turn and reply. "What does the 'all knowing Sokka' want now?" She asked sarcastically, still mad at how he treated Aang.

"Look, I'm sorry I've been so rough on you today." Sokka said, reaching out and grasping Katara's hand. "It's one of the burdens of being a leader, you have to do things that make people angry at you." He then took his sheathed sword and handed it to Katara. "It's something you'll hopefully learn to do with time."

Katara almost dropped the sword when Sokka let go of it. "Wha.. Wha... What are you talking about?" She asked, fear creeping into her voice.

"The tribe needs a chieftain," Sokka said calmly, "I'm staying behind to delay the fire nation so you can escape. If I can survive I'll..."

"Don't say that!" Katara yelled. "You can't die on me Sokka, you're all I have other then Gran-Gran."

"I don't plan on dieing, but I don't know what the future holds. It's my responsibility to keep the village safe. This is the only way." He argued. "You may not be ready now, but leadership is in your blood. You have to go, just like I have to stay."

"No you don't." She pleaded, "We can all escape together, there's still time."

"I can't Katara. Mom stayed to fight because it was her duty. She passed that duty to Dad, who passed it to me, which I now have to pass to you. Now go, I still have things to do before they get here." When Katara didn't move, he yelled, "Go!"

Katara reluctantly turned are started to walk away. She paused once, just before passing the wall defenses, to look back. Sokka tried his best to look stoic, until she turned away and left. As soon as she was out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Now for the hard part." he said to no one in particular. He then hurried to his tent, the only one left in the village to prepare. He tried to ignore the feeling in his gut that he was in for a world of hurt and may never see his family again.

Maybe being a warrior wasn't such a great thing after all.

1234567890987654321

Zuren was worried. They had not met any resistance, or seen any scouts during their trip to the glacier. As they landed onto the shore, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had. This was going too smoothly. In his relatively short career, he's learned to be extra careful when things seemed to be going too well. It usually meant the enemy was preparing a rather nasty surprise for him and his men.

Using hand gestures to communicate, his men spread out. Staying close enough to move into a defensive line if needed, but not bunching up to make an easy target for benders. His forward scouts reported that they found a trail in the snow, they slowly moved along it, waiting for water benders to jump up from their hiding spaces and attack at any moment.

After a few minutes of nerve wracking travel, they came to a man-made ice wall. The bone gate was open, inviting his men into ambush. As the front scouts reached the gate, the signaled that had spotted something. Everyone tensed as they waited for the signal for the ambush they knew was out there, waiting for the right moment.

When one of the front scouts signaled he needed to report his findings, Zuren was surprised. They had worked out hand signals for almost any enemy force that could be fielded. He motioned for the scout to return and watched as he headed towards him quickly, but not panicked, whatever was in the village was not expected.

When the scout reached him, Zuren whispered to him, "Report Sergeant Juro. Did you forget the hand signal for what you saw?"

"No sir," The man replied calmly. "The area looks like it's been deserted. We spotted one possible hostile and he is currently sitting, like he's waiting for something. It could be a trap, but the village space is flat and there is only one small structure made of bone."

Turning to Zuko, Zuren took a moment to weigh his options. "Alright, I'll check it out. Zuko, stay here." He commanded. Zuko opened his mouth to argue but Zuren cut him off, "This is not a discussion, prince Zuko. If there is an ambush ahead, I will not have you in the middle of it." He waited to see if Zuko would argue. When he remained silent, Zuren smiled, "Besides Zuzu, you can come to my rescue if it's a trap."

Zuko glared at him, but Zuren ignored him as he followed the scout to the front, signaling to one of his men to take command. The men silently adjusted their formation to accommodate for this as Zuren and Juro creeped up to the village gate. Zuren peaked into the compound for just a moment, taking in the entire scene before ducking back to cover. No sense in getting sniped by a hidden archer.

What he saw confused him. A single young warrior, decked out in full war regalia, face paint and everything, sat in the middle of the field. A number of hides have been arranged to make a line a number of paces in front of him. Behind the warrior, out of easy reach, a simple rack held a number of weapons. The warrior himself looked unarmed and he was in a kneeling seiza position with his knees together and his feet under his body. Zuren immediately realized what the warrior was doing, he was asking for him to participate in the ancient and almost lost fire nation tradition of parley. His etiquette teacher, an old and cranky geezer, had instructed him on the correct response to such a request. At the time, he never figured he would use such knowledge.

Turning back to his forces, he signaled for a few archers to come forward. Turning to Juro, he asked, "Do you know how to serve as someone's second? I know it's not part of your formal training." The man just shook his head, keeping silent. That was something Zuren had drilled into his troops, they are not to waste breath with useless talk when in the field. "Take my weapon and stay seven spaces behind me and slightly to the right at all times. Sit when I do, stand when I do, and do your best not be aggressive."

As Zuren finished, the archers have moved to the front. Using hand signals, Zuren instructed them to cover him and to only fire if he is attacked. He then un-belted his sword and handed it to the Juro. Once he was disarmed he slowly broke cover, quietly walking across the field. He stayed alert, expecting the sound of flying arrows at any moment. When he reached the spot to where he was the same distance from the line as the water tribe warrior he stopped. There was a small fur placed for him and his second to kneel on. As he keeled in the similar position as the water tribesman, he heard Juro quietly kneel behind him.

As soon as Zuren was seated, the warrior dipped his head into a respectful bow. "Sokka of the southern water tribe greets you." The youthful warrior said confidently, coming back out of the bow.

The words surprised Zuren, not only was the request done right, but this warrior was even using the correct words. Bowing back to the warrior, Zuren replied, "Colonel Zuren of the fire nation army returns your greeting, accepting your gracious offer." The scripted actions and words were mainly extraneous, but they had a purpose, so he would adhere to the protocol.

"The southern water tribe would ask for you to share your goals in leaving your territory." As Sokka talked, Zuren tried to gauge his age. The makeup and clothing hid his size and the lack of a beard cold mean any number of things. His voice was sounded like it had not dropped yet, so that could put him anywhere between twelve and sixteen.

"We have been dispatched to find someone." Zuren replied. Protocol now allow him to ask a question back to the warrior. "We spotted him in this area a few hours ago, have you seen any travelers pass though this area?"

"No." Sokka replied, quickly adding, "I have not seen any travelers. I live alone here."

Zuren sat, observing the boy for a second. He suspected that this kid was lying to him, but didn't show any signs. "Hmmm, that is strange that you say that. This person is hard to miss. My scouts watched him come through this area. He probably passed right over the ground we sit on now."

"You must mean my neighbor, who had been living nearby for quite some time. He left earlier today, not telling me where he planned to go. I would suggest that you look elsewhere for your 'someone'."

Zuren could tell when someone was avoiding a question, like this boy was doing. He would probably avoid any direct questions. It was time to try a different tactic. "I must say that I am surprised by the greeting I have been given. It's rare to have such a civilized meeting inside the fire nation, much less out on the frozen ice. I would be honored to meet the person who taught you such sophisticated methods to meet adversaries."

"My master taught me many things, and he is not the type to meet with others."

"That is shame. When my men search the area while we send a messenger to gather more boats, I wouldn't want to disturb him. My men are very through when given a task and would leave no inch of ice unsearched when ordered to." Zuren watched as worry flickered across Sokka's face. He might have a good poker face, but Zuren was good at breaking people's facade.

"This is a big glacier," Sokka stated, "you would only be wasting your time searching it."

"Ah, but you underestimate our interest in finding this particular person. We have scoured the rest of the world, whats a few more months on deserted ice. We could even be productive, surveying the area mapping out the structure of the glaciers. I'm sure the fire navy would appreciate a detailed map of the area, of every cliff, crevasse, and harbor. This part of the world can be so difficult to navigate sometimes." Worry was much more prevalent in Sokka's face, it was time for Zuren to try and shatter it. "If you have nothing else to add, I should organize my men to start the search. Like you said, it's a big iceberg and the sooner we start, the better chance we'll have of finding something." As per the protocol, Zuren bowed slightly, "Thank you for..."

"Wait!" Sokka blurted out, interrupting Zuren and breaking protocol. "I challenge you to single combat."

That surprised Zuren. "Interesting," he replied, always interested in a fight, "and the terms?"

"If you win, I'll tell you where the person you were so interested went. If I win, you and your men leave the south, swearing on your honor to never return or to speak of what you found here."

"Very well," Zuren replied in a bored manner, "since you make the terms of victory, it's only fair I set the terms of the duel." He waited for Sokka to nod before continuing. "We will fight unarmed until a knockout or surrender."

"I agree to your terms." Sokka stated, standing. Zuren rose at the same time and turned to Juro who had sat quietly throughout the exchange. "Inform the men that I am taking a challenge and to not interfere. Captain Kenzo is to take command until I finish here."

Juro saluted once, and then quickly moved away, hurrying back to the rest of the troops. Zuren then turned back to Sokka, taking off the light armor that would restrict his movement. He doubted that he would need it. Once he was done, Zuren walked up to the line of furs and watched as Sokka matched his distance. When they got within arms reach they stopped. Zuren slowly put out his arms, making fists with his hands. Sokka matched his gesture and they touched fists lightly, signaling the start of the duel.

Zuren immediate fell into a basic army combat stance, while Sokka fell into a stance that Zuren immediately recognized. His eyes widened in shock before he regained control. "You are full of surprises, kid." He said, before launching forward and attacking Sokka. Zuren started with simple attacks used to probe his opponent's defenses, which were good surprisingly. Dodging and blocking his strikes, Zuren started to get a feel for the kids skill level. He recognized Sokka's sloppy form, at the level of an experienced beginner. A sudden punch to the gut reminded Zuren that even beginners can win fights if he didn't take them seriously.

When Sokka tried another strike, Zuren took to the air, leaping over the strike. He balanced for a moment on Sokka's arm, smirking at his surprised look, before spinning forward, delivering a solid kick to Sokka's chest, sending him flying back. Zuren landed and watched Sokka slide across the ice for a few feet, before coming to a stop.

"Done so soon?" Zuren taunted, as Sokka forced himself back up to his feet. That was going to probably leave a bruise.

Sokka tried to keep a determined look on his face, but that kick really knocked him for a loop. "Remember to breathe," He heard Ranma's voice echo in his head. "Your ribs may feel like they are broken, but they are only bruised a little."

"Thanks for the reminder." Sokka thought sarcastically. "Any suggestions on how to beat this guy?" He watches as Zuren slowly approached, ready for Sokka to go back on the offense.

"It doesn't look good, you're way outclassed by this guy. The only hope you probably have is to get him to slip on the ice. You are a little more experienced on this terrain, so you might be able to knock him off his feet."

Sokka then leapt forward, sliding across the ice and attacking Zuren as soon as he got close. Zuren weaved around the attack and tried for a throw. Sokka slipped away from Zuren's grab and went back on the offense. Coming in low, Sokka tried for an uppercut, which Zuren dodged, and then a leg sweep, which Zuren jumped over. This put Zuren right were Sokka wanted, continuing his spin, he switched legs and launched a reverse sweep which knocked Zuren's legs out from under him as he landed. As Zuren hit the ice, Sokka tried to follow up with a foot stomp, but Zuren recovered instantly and rolled away. Sokka then moved back into a defensive position.

Leaping back to his feet, Zuren was smiling, pleased with Sokka's performance. "That was a good shot, kid. Almost got me with that one."

"Thanks," Sokka said, taking the moment to catch his breath, "you're not half bad yourself."

Zuren let out a good-natured laugh, "Says the one who's having trouble. Let's see how you handle this." Running forward, Zuren leapt into the air, sailing at Sokka like a giant arrow. He seemed to hang in the air, defiantly resisting the pull of gravity as he homed in on Sokka. At the last moment, Sokka jerked out of the way and went immediately on the defensive. This time, Zuren was much more vicious. Each attack flowed into another. With punches, kicks, knees, and elbows all flying at him at an intense rate. Sokka did his best to keep up, but Zuren was just way too fast for him. A few light kicks and punches made it through. Adding to the many bruises forming over Sokka's body.

This lasted for about a minute before a sudden kick caught Sokka in between the legs. He didn't even notice the kick until it connected. Picking him up and sending him flying back for the second time. This time however, he felt like his stomach had just been knocked into his mouth. His vision darkened as a world of pain exploded into his brain. Sokka had been hurt many times in his childhood, but nothing prepared him for the kind of pain he felt now.

He barely registered that he had hit the ground. He lay there, dazed. As Zuren walked up to him, Sokka's vision slowly cleared and the ringing in his head lessened. Enough that he heard. "Never been kicked in the nuts before, huh?" As Zuren picked him up he tried to focus on the world around him.

"Looks like you loose this one, kid." Sokka heard the man say. From the back of Sokka's mind, the picture of his fellow villagers being forced to march in chains jumped to his mind. With a start, he kicked out his foot, returning the favor to Zuren. Unfortunately, the man only grunted, taking the pain much better then Sokka did. All Sokka got for his attack was an angry growl. Zuren brought up his knee, slamming it into Sokka's gut, forcing the air from his lungs. His fist then came around, delivering a left hook to Sokka's jaw. An uppercut with his right hand knocked Sokka into the air. While hanging in the air, Zuren delivered a final crescent kick, catching Sokka in the side and sending him tumbling into the ice.

The last thing Sokka could remember thinking before falling unconscious, for the second time that day, was the hope that Katara was doing better then he was.

1234567890987654321

To her credit, Katara was able follow Sokka's orders, for about an hour. The shock of having the mantle of chieftain on her shoulders had left her stunned, not really understanding what she was supposed to do now. She had caught up to the other villagers easily, her mind wandering as she hiked along the path. She kept coming back to the fact that she was now in charge. All the times that she resented Sokka for telling her what to do, she secretly thought that she could do a better job. Now, that she was the leader, she found that she didn't want it. All she really wanted was to learn water bending, if only Sokka would've let her train, then she could have helped him. Now he was probably gone forever.

The only real constant in her life has been Sokka. For all of his annoying behaviors, he was always there to look after her. Sure he would grumble and complain about having to babysit a girl, but he never quit. A future without him near, watching out for her as she watched out for him, was one she couldn't bear to think about. Someone should go back, to make sure he was okay. She had no idea how he would delay the fire nation, but there had been no sign of pursuit. Who could she ask to go?

Looking down, she stared at the sword that Sokka has given her. Something in the back of her mind told her that the sword was the answer to her problem. That something about it should let her know what to do. Then, like a bolt of lightning, she realized what she could do. It took everything she had to keep herself from yelling out "I got it!" at the top of her lungs. The sword represented the leadership of the village. She was now the owner of the sword so that meant that she was the leader. That meant, she could tell people what to do!

Looking up, she glanced around for someone who could quickly run back and check on Sokka. After a few moments, she realized that everyone had a pack and many were wearily dragging steads of gear. Even the little kids were all loaded down with supplies. They would have to leave things behind if she sent anyone back. Actually, Katara seemed to have the lightest load of everyone. Even gran-gran had a pack on and was helping with a sled. It took every ounce of strength the village had to move. At the front, Soma was rotating those pulling the biggest sled to prevent a single person from getting completely exhausted. Herself taking a turn on the ropes to help pull.

Watching her work, the rest of Katara's plan came into her head. It was simple and brilliant both at the same time. Picking up the pace, Katara moved to the front of the line. While she walked, she attached the chieftain's sword to her belt. As she reached the front, she cut into the rotation of people pulling the main sled. Once it was her turn she picked up the rope and started to pull, taking a spot next to Soma, who was in the middle of her shift.

"Soma," Katara said to get her attention, "I need to talk to you."

Looking over to her, Soma wearily spoke, "What is it Katara?"

"Sokka is taking too long catching up, I think he may be in trouble."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Soma asked, "We are a little busy and I can't spare anyone if we're going to make it to the secondary camp before nightfall."

"I agree, you can't spare any of the adults. Fortunately, you don't need me to get to the camp. I can go look for him."

Soma's head snapped around to glare directly at Katara for a moment. Their eyes locked for a moment before Soma motioned for someone to take her spot. As soon as someone cycled into Soma's spot, Katara felt someone take the rope from her hands. Soma then lead her off to the side, away from the rest of the village. As soon as they were out of earshot Soma spoke, "Just because your grandmother let your brother run wild, does not mean that you get to continue the behavior." she snapped.

Katara's face hardened at the response, she straitened her back, seeming to become extremely more cold and confident. "That was not a request, Soma." She stated, "Someone is going back to check on my brother, either you find someone to go, or I will do it myself. Hakoda passed the mantle of leader to Sokka, who passed it to me. I'm now in charge of keeping this village safe, that means every single person, including Sokka."

"Then why do you feel the need to bother me?" Soma asked angrily, "I don't have time to chase after you. Someone has to get us to safety."

Katara reached down and unhooked the chiefs sword, holding it out to Soma. "If there is one thing I know, it's that I'm not ready to lead. You, on the other hand, has already been doing the job since we were kids. This would just make it official."

Soma imediately pushed the weapon away. "That sword is to be worn by a warrior. I'm no fighter, and I intend to never become one. Hakoda tried to give me that blasted sword before he left and I turned him down then. What makes you think I'd accept it from you?" Her tone lightened as she continued, "I'll tell you a little secret about being a leader Katara. A sword does not make you a leader, leadership is granted by those you lead. You have to earn their respect and their loyalty. Sokka has his parents charisma and bloodline which get's people to listen him, but one must be able to prove that they are worthy of the trust they are given." She paused, giving Katara the chance to respond. When she didn't Soma continued, "You should do what you feel is right. Sokka made his choice and has to live with the consequences of those choices. The same with you, I won't stop you if you go back."

Katara seemed to come to a decision and she smiled, bowing slightly. "Thanks Soma. Please take care of everyone until I find my brother, I'm going to go drag his annoying hide home." She then turned and hurried off, strapping the sword back to her waist.

Soma just smiled, as she watched Katara run off. "Ahh to be young again." She mused before turning back to the task at hand. Those sleds were not going to move themselves.

1234567890987654321

Nearby, but out of sight of the village, Aang sat brooding on top of the resting Appa. While he knew he should be heading out, for some reason, he didn't feel like traveling. He really liked the villagers here and wished that Sokka hadn't forced him away. Being in that iceberg had really disrupted his internal balance. Everyone was acting so strange, that storm wasn't that terrible, was it?

Below him, Appa growled hungrily. While they ate before leaving the southern air temple, they had not eaten anything since. Both Aang and Appa were starting to feel the effects of an empty stomach. "I know buddy," he reassured, "once you feel up to flying, we'll head north and find some food."

Appa responded with a quiet growl. Seeming to agree with Aang's plan.

Settling down to continue resting, Aang idly scanned the horizon. Off in the distance, we saw a figure crest a hill. Running from the direction that Katara and the villagers left. Perking up, Aang jumped off Appa and down to the snow. "Stay here," he told Appa, "someone's coming and I'm going to check it out." He then started walking towards the approaching person. He walked quickly, trying not to tire out his body.

Once he got closer, he was able to recognize who was coming across the snow. "Hey Katara!" Aang yelled out, waving.

Katara waved as well, putting on a burst of speed to close the distance. "Aang!" She exclaimed once she was close enough to stand next to him. "I'm so glad to see you. I think Sokka is in trouble and I want to check up on him."

"I'll go with you." Aang offered, "Only... Sokka said not to return to the village."

Katara just rolled her eyes, "The village is where the people are and they all moved, Aang. The old village is just ice and snow now."

"Oh... Good point."

Reaching out, Katara grabbed Aang's hand. "Come on, Sokka may be in trouble."

As soon as Katara touched his hand, Aang again got this faraway look as Katara dragged him forward. After a few stumbling steps, Aang focused on what he was doing and matched Katara's pace. As they moved, neither one spoke. Katara was focused on getting to Sokka quickly and Aang was focusing on the fact that Katara was holding his hand, dragging him behind her.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the outer wall of the village. Katara slowed down and came to a stop, next to the opening. Letting go of Aang, Katara creeped forward, peaking around the edge of the wall to look into the village. In front of her, an empty space of ice and snow greeted her. There was no one else there. Waving to Aang to follow her, she walked into the village, walking towards the middle where a weapons rack stood. She immediately identified the weapons.

"What is it Katara?" Aang asked quietly, spotting the worried look on her face.

"These are Sokka's weapons." She mentioned worriedly, reaching out and picking up one of them. "Even his boomerang is here, he never goes anywhere without it strapped to his back. Help me look around, Aang. There might be clues somewhere."

The pair separated, looking around the ground. After a few moments of search, Aang spotted a little bit of discolored snow. Aang waved Katara over to see.

"That's strange," Katara stated, "this looks like blood, but there is so little. It must have been from a minor injury."

"What does it mean?" Aang asked.

"I don't know!" Katara exclaimed, she was now even more worried. "Where are you Sokka?" she asked aloud. "What happened when the fire nation showed up here? Did they fight?"

"Maybe they decided to leave when they didn't find anyone but Sokka here?" Aang suggested, trying to help out.

"You're probably right, fire nation boats tend to turn the snow gray and then black for some reason if they stay around for long periods of time. I've heard that's how you know that they were in the area." Both fell silent, deep in thought. "Sokka would have returned to the village if he was able to. He's not dead or we would have found the body. They must have been captured him then."

"So if we find the boat, he's probably on it!" Aang finished, seeing where Katara's thought process was going.

"But how are we going to catch them?" Katara asked, "We can get a boat, but they are all small and I don't think we could paddle fast enough to catch them."

"Ah, you forget that I have a flying bison." Aang stated, smiling. "He's rested enough to fly, but he's starting to get hungry."

"That's not a problem, I have some fish jerky that we could give him."

Shaking his head, Aang replied, "No, that won't work. Appa only eats plants, he hates meat. We'd have to go north and find some food before we can search for your brother."

"Then we'd better hurry then, the longer we wait, the harder it will be to find them." Katara stated, collecting Sokka's weapons and strapping them to her backpack. Aang nodded, starting to head off towards where Appa was. Katara looked towards the ocean, quietly saying, "Hang on Sokka, we're coming to save you." She then turned and ran to catch up with Aang. Not knowing when or if she would ever return.

End of Chapter 1

Footnotes:

[1] - dyspnoean is based off the word Dyspnea which us a medical term for shortness of breath. I needed to come up with a slang term for non-bending fire nation citizens. If you want to suggest something that you think is better, let me know.

Authors note:

Holy cow! This took forever to finish and edit... and it's only the first chapter! I knew this was going to be a massive project when I started, but not this big. I'm going to try to break my story up into chapters following the TV series as much as possible. I'm considering this chapter to cover the first two episodes, of the series. That means the next chapter will be the equivalent of "The Southern Air Temple". Katara and Aang must save Sokka from the clutches of Zuren and his crew. How are they going to pull that off when the ship is filled with warriors and fire benders? Will they even be able to save Sokka? Well you'll just have to wait and see.

Special thanks to my pre-readers who spot the constant grammar and spelling errors that I routinely make. This would be an unreadable train-wreck without their hard work. Also, I'd like to thank clockworkchaos who let me shamelessly steal the idea for the Killer Whale-Wolf. Unlike that story, one of these will not become a supporting character.

Thanks again for reading, feel free to comment or review my story. Praise will be relished, corrections or suggestions will be considered, and flames will be used to heat my home.

Until next time.


	2. Chapter 2: Revelation of Power

Chapter 2: Revelation of Power

Being knocked out is never fun. What's worse is waking up after being out for a while. Your brain tries to latch onto the last thing you remember, which could be any number of things. Then there is the trying to match those memories to where you currently are. If you have been moved, there is confusion, uncertainty, and fear. Fortunately for Sokka, he was more concerned with figuring out where he was then getting scared. When all of his senses reported in, a few important facts were made known. He was laying down on something hard, he hands and legs had something smooth and cold on them, there were sports on his chest that felt unusually warm, and he was naked. While the first three were useful, the last was the most alarming. One did not get naked very often in the south pole. Normally, the only time he was ever uncovered was when he was changing clothes. While his mind focused on trying to figure out what all these clues meant, his body started to twitch nervously.

"Please lay still, I'm trying to help you." A calming voice asked politely. Sokka's mind categorized it as a female's voice. His eyes shot open and a girl came into focus. Her eyes were closed and her hands were hovering over his chest. Sokka's first thought was that she was very cute. His second that she probably had seen him naked. Embarrassed, he stared to blush, His body moving to try and maintain his modesty. He heard the metallic clink of chains which he realized held his arms and legs, making it impossible for him to move.

Reaching down, the girl grabbed for some stones that had been placed on Sokka's chest. They were sliding off due to his fighting. "Don't be embarrassed." The girl said, smiling slightly. "I've seen many people naked in my time as a healer." For some reason, that calmed Sokka down. His body was already tired and the small movements had exhausted him. He just laid there as the girl replaced the stones on his chest. "These stones help me open your chi pathways, which in turn helps heal your body." She calmly explained. "My master really roughed you up, fractured a few ribs, bruised some of your organs, gave you a nasty concussion. You'll live, but you'll be sore and tired for a few days while your body repairs the damage."

"Your master?" Sokka croaked out, barely able to gather the energy to move his lips.

"Colonel Zuren, the man you fought. He saved my life when solders attacked my home and killed my parents. Since then, he's been protecting me and I return his generosity by serving him."

"Oh." Sokka replied, at a loss of what to do next. He laid there, his mind going over the last few hours of his life. That morning, what he thought was an otherwise normal morning, had turned into an annoyance by midday and a nightmare by evening. He failed to keep the village secret, the cover story Ranma and he thought up was flimsy at best, and Katara was now on her own as the leader of the tribe. He went from chief to prisoner in only a few hours. This was all that kid's fault. If they never found him, he's still be home, with his family. Not tied down to a table waiting for who knows what.

After a while, the girl relaxed and started picking up the stones, returning them to small bags that sat on the table. "There is no more I can do now. Your body will continue to repair the damage on it's own." She then collected her bag and stood. Sokka realizing that he was only a short distance above the ground. Moving calmly, the girl went to the only door in the room and knocked. A slit in it opened, the guard looking in for a moment. The slit then shut and the door was slid opened sideways, enough to let the girl leave, then closing loudly behind her.

Looking around the room, Sokka took stock of anything that may help him. The room was completely empty, the only furniture was the low table he was laying on. Sokka tired to think up with a plan, but nothing came to mind. Thinking loudly he called out to Ranma, his absence more discomforting then anything else. For the last five years, Ranma had been a constant companion to him. He had gotten used to his sometimes annoying presence. Without him, Sokka was lost and alone, unsure what was going to happen next.

After what seemed like hours, the door lock unbolted and the door slid open fully. A number of men wearing some kind of metal mask came in, each carrying a number of pieces of metal. Quietly, they constructed a table and pair of crude arm chairs, all bolted to the metal floor. After a few moments of work, then men filed out of the room, the door remaining open when they left. A few moments later a pair of warriors, in full armor, walked calmly in and unhooked the chains that held him to the table and picked him up. Moving him easily to the chair and reattaching his chains, locking him to the chair. Sokka, in his tired state, didn't struggle with the move. Once done, they filed out of the room without a word. Again, Sokka waited a few moments, the door remaining open. Then, a man walked in, the door sliding shut behind him solidly. Sokka watched as the man came and sat at the second chair. He brought his hands forward to rest on the table and Sokka noticed that the man was missing a few fingers.

"My name is Sergeant First Class Baku. I'm going to ask you a number of questions." The man calmly asked, seeming like he has asked these types of questions before. "Do you have any health conditions that you want let us know about? Are there any food limitations that you have?"

"Why am I a prisoner? And naked?" Sokka asked, trying to seem as demanding as possible.

"All you questions will be answered at the appropriate times. We need to first get these minor questions out of the way before we proceed." Baku explained. "I want to make sure we are not neglecting your body in ways that may make you sick."

"Why should it matter to you? The Fire Nation killed my family, what's one more person?"

The man paused, letting silence hang in the air before asking, "All you questions will be answered at the appropriate times. First, do you have any health conditions that you want let us know about? Are there any food limitations that you have?"

"Answer my question!" Sokka demanded, yelling this time.

Again the man paused, quietly staring down Sokka. After a time he repeated. "All you questions will be answered at the appropriate times. First, do you have any..."

"No!" Sokka blurted out, "Stop repeating yourself so damned much!"

"Thank you for answering that." He stated, pulling out a scroll and opening it up slightly. "Can you tell me what your normal diet consists of?"

Sokka glared at the man, refusing to answer the question. Looking up from the scroll, the man repeated himself, "Can you tell me what your normal diet consists of?" Again, the man waited patiently for a response. When Sokka didn't respond, he asked two more times before Sokka finally answered.

"Cooked or smoked fish and sea vegetables normally made into a stew. What's with all the questions about food? Isn't this an interrogation?"

Baku put down the scroll gently. "You misunderstand my intentions here, Sokka. This is not an interrogation, I just need to ask you a few questions so we can make sure you stay healthy during your time with us. May I continue?"

Sokka sighed, looking away, "Fine. You'd just repeat the question if I don't answer until we both grow old and grew."

"Thank you for cooperating. Please answer the questions as best you can." Baku stated, picking back up the scroll. "Have you ever been outside of your homeland?"

"No."

"Have you ever encountered anyone who was affected by sickness that had a fatality of someone under the same condition?"

"No."

"Do you exercise regularly?"

"Yes"

"Have you gone for more then two days without food before?"

"Yes"

"Is it a common occurrence?"

"No"

"Have you ever come in contact with any rabid or sick animals?"

"No."

"Have you ever come in contact with someone else's body fluid?"

"No."

"Have you ever had to handle a dead body?"

"No."

"Did your mother survive giving birth to you?"

"Yes."

"Are you or anyone in your family a bender?"

Sokka opened his mouth to answer but paused at the last minute. He was just about to tell him about his sister. The simple questions lulling him into not thinking of the answer. Baku looked up, seeing if Sokka would answer. "Yes, my mother was." He stated, before hastily adding. "I'm not."

Baku just raised an eyebrow slightly, before continuing. "She was a water bender?"

"Yes."

"One last question, have you ever met a Fire Nation citizen before today?"

"No." Sokka spat back angrily. "And I never wanted to!"

Baku closed the scroll and stood. "Thank you for your cooperation." He said simply, walking to the door and knocking on it. After the guard checked his identity, Baku was allowed to leave the room.

Again, Sokka was left alone to think about his first "session" of interrogation. He really had no idea what to expect anymore. He had no idea if the village was safe, how Katara was doing, or where Ranma was through all of this. In the past, Sokka had tried to take off the bracers he found so many years ago. He could never find the straps that were there when he found them. Now more the ever, he wished that Ranma's slightly mocking voice would chime in, giving him some guidance on what he should do.

Sokka's thoughts were interrupted when the door opened again. This time, Sokka immediately recognized the man who stepped through. Sokka opened his mouth to say something insulting when he noticed the girl from before walking in behind him, carrying a tray of some type of food. His mouth closed as he watched the door close and the pair move across the room. Zuren sat in the chair, and the girl kneeled on the floor a few feet away. Her eyes were downcast, not looking up to either of them.

After a moment Zuren spoke. "I'm please to say that Ling here believes that you will soon recover from the injuries of our recent match." he said warmly.

Sokka glanced at the girl for a moment before speaking. "That's great and all, but why am I still naked?" Once Sokka got over the initial embarrassment, he had resolved himself to the fact that he had no control over his current dress.

Zuren chuckled a bit before continuing. "Feeling a little exposed?" He asked rhetorically. "I assure you that your current state of undress is to make healing you easier. Though I would think a boy your age would jump at the chance to show off your physique to a pretty girl like Ling here."

Sokka colored for a moment, looking away from the pair. "Assuming I even wanted to do that, I'm tied to a chair. I doubt a girl would want anything to do with someone in that position."

This time, Zuren let out a full laugh. "My word Sokka, you are just full of surprises." Zuren said, trying to control his mirth. After a moment, he regained control. "Though that isn't why I'm here. As per the terms of our challenge, you are honor bound to tell me where our mutual acquaintance ran off to."

"Once I do that, what happens to me?" Sokka asked, "You do to me what your people did to my family?"

Zuren's eyes narrowed and his tone become even more controlled, "The fire nation is many things, but we are not heartless butchers. What happens to you all depends on if your information checks out. So tell me what you know, I have many other responsibilities that I must attend to."

Sokka took a moment to weigh his options. He had given his word to tell them what he knew about Aang. The only problem was that he really didn't know anything. He only wanted Aang to leave, he didn't care where the kid went, only that it wasn't here. Of course, he couldn't say that to Zuren, they'd probably kill him. What he needed was some place that was far enough away that he could have time to attempt an escape, but one that would make sense. Katara and Aang's earlier conversations sprang into his mind. It was an obvious choice, he just hoped that they would buy it. "He said he was going home, to the southern air temple. He didn't say where it was."

Zuren seemed to accept the answer and he stood. "Very well, it's not that far away. It shouldn't take that long to check it out. Ling will see to your meals and has dinner for you."

"What about the restraints? How long are you going to chain me to this chair?" Sokka asked as Zuren headed towards the door.

"Until I feel that it is safe to let you go." Zuren called over his shoulder, waiting for the door to open. Once he was out, the door slid closed and the girl called Ling stood, bringing the tray over and setting it at the end of the table.

"How are you holding up?" Ling asked quietly, "Do you hurt anywhere?"  
"No, I'm fine." Sokka replied, "Though I have to admit, this is not what I expected."

Ling smiled as she uncovered a bowl of what looked like lumpy paste. "What did you expect?" she asked, taking a spoon and scooping out a small amount.

"I honestly don't know. I've never been a prisoner before." Sokka admitted.

Holding up the spoon, Ling asked, "Please try this, I hope it is to your liking." Sokka opened his mouth to allow the mush into his mouth and was surprised that it tasted like fish. The cook probably made normal fish and then smashed it into a paste. It was actually rather good. Turning back to get another scoop, Ling continued. "My master is an unconventional man, I have never met anyone like him."

"What can you tell me about him?" Sokka asked, accepting the single scoops of food and sips of water that Ling would give him.

"He's strong yet gentle, cautious yet brave, skillful but not arrogant. I've never seen another fighter that could best him in single combat. He's one of the youngest fire nation officers to reach the rank of Colonel." Ling paused before asking, "What about you? My master usually delegates interrogations to his subordinates. He never takes a personal hand in these things. I wonder why that is?"

"I don't know," Sokka replied, "maybe he was impressed with our match. Has he ever fought a water tribe warrior before?"

"He spent most of his carrier fighting in the earth kingdom, there aren't many water tribe warriors there." Ling had emptied the bowl and sat on the edge of the table to chat friendly with Sokka. "He does try to learn of any new school of martial arts he can. What school do you practice? Maybe it's one he doesn't know."

"It's the Anything Goes school of Indiscriminate Grappling." Sokka stated, trying to sound impressive.

Ling giggled lightly, putting a hand in front of her mouth. "What a strange name for a school. I've definitely never heard of that one before. I would have remembered something like that."

"Yea, it is a silly name, but it's the best you'll ever find."

"The founder must have been quite a strange person. I would love to be able to meet 'em if he's still alive." Ling idly noted.

Chuckling lightly Sokka shook his head. "I'd doubt it. From what my teacher told me, the founder was, and I quote, 'the worlds biggest pervert'. Though my teacher told me that it was good workout to chase after him. jumping from rooftop to rooftop, while he avoided the mob of angry women chasing after him."

"I guess that's one way to train. How about you? I don't think there are many roofs to jump between in the south pole. How do you train in the ice and snow? I would think all the sweat from running around would freeze."

"Us water tribe warriors have been living on the ice for generations. Our clothes don't get soaked easily and you always keep another pair to switch into when needed. Just because we're on the ice doesn't mean it's always cold. During the summer months, it's generally warm enough to run around with only a single coat on."

Both of them fell silent, not sure of what to say next. After a moment, Ling slid off the table and picked up the tray. "I have other duties to attend to, I hope you enjoyed the meal." Ling said, moving to the door.

"It was surprisingly good." Sokka admitted. "Thank you."

Ling knocked on the door, then turned to face Sokka, smiling. "I'm glad you liked it. I'll talk to you again at breakfast time." She then waited for the door to open and walked out, the door slamming closed behind her. Sokka watched her leave, for some reason, he suddenly felt a lot more warm. Once she was gone, Sokka was left to his own thoughts. He wondered how long it would be before the next "interrogation". So far, they didn't seem so bad.

1234567890987654321

In another part of the ship, Zuren sat in his room. He was hunched over his desk, working on a report of the last few days. It was a habit he got into from his time in the regular army. He used it to help remember things and to keep a record. While in the field, it was critical to keep track of certain things like casualty rates and food supplies. When battles blended together into a long campaign. It was essential that he kept track of what maneuvers were attempted and how well his men performed. It was one of the reasons he became such a successful field commander. Where others would behave in the same way for any battle, he was able to adapt his strategy to out maneuver the enemy.

Of course now that he was guarding the prince, there was less combat and more mundane things in his report. They would need to start thinking about restocking their fresh water supply. It was hard enough keeping everyone fed under normal conditions. Since they were way outside the normal fire nation supply lines, finding food and water was extra challenging. It was good creative exercise that kept his mind off the fact that he was babysitting a child instead of bringing an end to this war.

Suddenly, the door to his cabin burst open, an angry Zuko stomping in.

"Speak of the devil." He mumbled to himself before stating, "Zuzu, to what do I own the honor of your royal presence in my bed chambers?"

"You're taking too long getting what we want from the prisoner. We need answers and you are being too soft on him."

Zuren took a moment to collect his papers and to file them away. "And what would you have me do your highness? Beat the answers out of him?"

"Just give me a few minutes with him and I'll have him telling us everything we want to know."

Chuckling lightly, Zuren shook his head sadly. "Zuko, you've never interrogated a prisoner before. These things can't be rushed. You go in there now, and all you will do is strengthen his resolve to say nothing. Gutting him like a chicken-goat and reading his entrails will give us more useful information then threatening him into talking. He has already given us a lead, let's see where it goes before we resort to more harsh methods."

"Grrr. I hate this!" Zuko complained. "After all this time, I've been waiting to come across the avatar. Now that we have a glimpse of him, I have to keep waiting. I'm tired of waiting. I want to do something!"

"Then practice. Let me worry about getting you to the avatar, you're going to have to capture him. He's had 100 years to master all the elements. You'll need to get a lot better if you hope to beat him."

"But uncle won't teach me the more advanced techniques until I am 'ready'." Zuko complained.

"Then try to figure out moves on your own. Bending and Martial Arts are similar in the fact that every move was thought up by someone. Even a basic fire blast had to be figured out by the first fire benders. If you took the breath you use to complain and applied it towards becoming a bender, you'd be a lot better."

Zuko opened his mouth to reply, but he didn't have any idea how to come back to what Zuren had said. He was a terrible bender. The worst in his family. The only people he was better then was non-benders, and they didn't count. Slumping his shoulders. Zuko let out a dejected sigh. "You're right. I'm just going crazy waiting to face the avatar." Zuko admitted.

"Then you should focus on preparing your body and mind to face him. If you try to take on the avatar right now, he's going to wipe the floor with you. Before you enter battle, you must be focused and all worries must be pushed from your mind. An unfocused solder is doomed to have defeat sprung unexpectedly upon him."

"I know that." Zuko spat out, trying to get his anger under control. "Why does everyone always feel the need to lecture me on things I already know? It's irritating."

Shrugging, Zuren stood. "We all worry about you prince Zuko. Being banished from home and sent on a fools errand can wear on anyone. You've handled it better then expected so far. Have patience, you will regain your honor and take your rightful place as heir to the throne. The Avatar can only run for so long. Eventually, we will catch up and you will have your chance."

Zuko crossed his arms and looked away, dejected. "Fine." He grumbled. "I'll let you continue, but if it turns out he was lying about where the avatar went, I will show how unhappy I am with him." Pausing to let the threat sink in, Zuko stalked out.

When Zuko was gone, Zuren let out a sigh or relief. He really hoped this air bender really was the Avatar. While Zuko did not have much of an imagination when it came to showing displeasure, Zuren had sickening memories of what some fire nation warriors did with prisoners. If Zuko started down that path, he may never escape the ugly fate that seem to haunt those who do. Zuren's duty was to the people of the fire nation, he needed to make sure their future leader was still worthy of the honor when this adventure ended. He didn't want to think about what would be required of him if Zuko was found wanting.

1234567890987654321

A few miles away, and several thousand feet up, Aang was having second thoughts about helping Katara find her brother. She was not what you would call a natural flyer. Appa was going to need a bath after they find him some food. He was currently holding onto Katara to prevent her from falling out of the saddle that she was slumped over the edge. For the last few minutes, she had been puking her guts out, thankfully not in the saddle.

"You gonna be okay?" Aang asked.

"I think... Urp..." Katara started when her stomach rebelled and she leaned more over the edge, more fluid shooting out her mouth. After a few dry heaves, she thankfully stopped. "Oog... I hope that's it." the mumbled miserably.

"Just hang in there Katara, we'll be landing soon." Aang said, trying to keep her mood positive.

Katara just nodded, trying to make her stomach settle on force of will alone. She was fine with the idea of flying when they first started, but as they gained altitude, she started getting sick. Something about being so high made her queasy. When she tried to meditate like Aang suggested, queasy turned into sick, which made her dizzy, which then turned her stomach into a cannon, shooting the contents of her stomach violently back the way the entered.

Thinking about it made her dry heave a few more times. "I don't think there is anything left in my stomach to loose." She stated once the heaving stopped. She took a swig of her water skin, rinsed her mouth and spit the water out, trying to not have it land on Appa. "I should be good for now." Rolling backwards, Katara laid down, and then rolled to her side. "Just get us to something solid."

"Okay! One solid something, coming right up!" Aang joked, leaping back to the reins and directing Appa to slowly descend. As they broke the clouds, Aang spotted some small islands a short distance away. He gently banked towards the islands, trying his best not to make Katara any more sick then what she was.

As they descended, Katara's stomach settled, and she started to recover. By the time they got close to the ground, Katara felt well enough to sit up and watch as Appa came in to land. The island was a good sized, big enough that it would take a few days to cross on foot. Snow covered most of the island, but clumps of trees stubbornly sprouted up through the snow. As soon as they touched down, Aang turned and hopped back into the saddle.

"You need help getting down?" Aang asked, concerned.

Katara just shook her head and hopped down to the ground. "I'll be fine Aang, go get Appa fed so we can track down my brother." She found a snowbank that looked comfortable and sat down, leaning against the slope.

"Ok Katara, be back before you know it." Aang called, hopping back on top of Appa and heading inland. He hoped to find some shrubs or winter fruit that Appa could load up on. It didn't take much to feed Appa, which was good since the plants this far south were not that tasty. He made a promise to find something better once they got further north.

Katara watched as Appa lumbered away slowly. The more that she sat on solid ice and snow, the better she felt. It was nice to take a break from the breakneck speed that her life had taken today. This morning, she had thought it was going to be another normal day in a long chain of normal days. Today was anything but normal. She was almost crushed by ice, marooned in the middle of the ocean, found a new friend close to her own age, and almost lost her brother, all before midday. "Sokka.." She sighed wistfully. Earlier in the day, she had told him that she didn't want to see him again during an argument. She didn't really mean it at the time. She missed her brother terribly, and it had only been a few hours. To be honest, she had no idea what she was going to do once she caught up to whoever had captured him.

All her life, Sokka was there, being bossy and telling her what to do. She hated it most of the time, but there was a strange comfort in not having to make decisions. That all you had to worry about was the day to day activities. That someone else would give her instructions of what to do. On her own, Katara didn't really have any idea on what to do. She had to wait for Appa and Aang to eat. She had rations in her pack, that she would eat once her stomach decided it would cooperate. The only thing to do was sit around, by herself. There was no one to talk other then the snow and the ocean. She was completely alone.

Katara sat there stunned as another though came thundering into her skull. The only reason she couldn't practice bending was because she was worried about hurting someone. Well no one else was here, it was the perfect time to see what she could do. Jumping to her feet, Katara moved closer to the ocean. Thinking back to earlier in the day, she tried to recall how she shot that water blast that freed Aang from the glacier. Closing her eyes, she tried to relax and reach out to the water. She could feel it moving, chaotically moving about with only minor direction. She strained her memory, trying her best to recall how the water flowed and how she moved her hands. As she focused, the water near her stilled, as if sensing that something was about to happen. Raising her hands, Katara tried to mimic her earlier moves. The water responded by shooting a column strait upwards for a few feet before falling back into the waves.

"That was close." Katara said to herself. "I need it to go up and then sideways. Maybe I can force it to twist." Closing her eyes, Katara made a motion with her hands and the water responded. This time, shooting up into the air, curving slightly to the side, and then falling back to the ground. Growling slightly, Katara tried again, and again, and again. Each time, the water only shooting up, not sideways. Each failure made Katara just a little more irritated. After her tenth failure, she cried out and threw her arms into the air before turning away and crossing her arms angrily, fed up with the lack of progress.

This time, the water responded to her anger with a massive wave rising out of the ocean and shooting forward, twisting around her body and crashing into a ground in a half circle. The wave soaked everything, some of it splashing backwards and landing on Katara. Taking a deep breath, Katara growled for moment, before yelling out, "now you cooperate!" She unconsciously wiped off her clothes and froze mid motion. The water that was falling to the ground, paused for a half moment as well, before continuing to fall to the ground. That was the second time that she just scooped water off of her clothes. Before she was just trying to force the water to move how she wanted. Maybe she had to push and pull the water around.

Taking a wide stance, Katara looked out into the ocean. She pushed her hands away from her, and then pulled them back, making a wave motion with her hands. The water responded by mirroring her hand motions, flowing away and then back. Smiling, Katara was filled with happiness, finally getting the hang of it. As she worked, the waves grew in size. When she felt the wave got large enough she waited for when the wave was rushing towards her. She twisted her body, bringing her arms wide to guide the water into a horizontal blast. She imagined the wave twisting into a stream and shooting inland.

Behind her, the water seemed to suddenly tremble for a moment before some of it broke away to form a water blast. The rest continued flowing inland, with predicable results, knocking Katara to the ground as the wave of water slammed into her. The wave drug her along the snow, again soaking her clothes. Once the wave collapsed against the ground, it slowly flowed back to the ocean.

Picking herself up, Katara thought, "Well maybe that was a little too much water." She idly squeezed the water out of her hair as she thought of what to do differently. As she thought, she unconsciously shivered, the cold ocean water chilling her. After a moment, she shook her body like a lion-seal, water flying away from her body in all directions. As it flew away, it turned to ice before shattering on the ice that was forming on the rock. After Katara finished, she was completely dry and warm.

For the next hour, Katara kept working on separating a small stream of water from the ocean. It was tough work, but after a time, she was finally able to coax the water to mostly behave the way she wanted it to. While it didn't go exactly where she wanted it to, it would flow in the general direction she wanted it to. Deciding to take a break, Katara sat down and looked out to the sea, she was quite proud of herself. Without anyone telling her what to do, she was finally able to practice her bending without getting yelled at. It was a great feeling that she couldn't help but smile at.

As she sat there, it started to snow. At first, Katara happily sat, basking in her own success, but something felt off. Katara looked around and spotted some black flakes falling to the ground. "Fire Nation." She stated coldly, "I have to find Aang." Jumping to her feet, Katara began running in the direction that she thought Aang and Appa had went. They needed to stay hidden, if they were lucky, this would be the ship Sokka was on.

How many fire nation ships could there be in the south pole. He had to be on it. Katara didn't have a plan in case it wasn't.

1234567890987654321

Sokka found that he was wrong before. Being a prisoner really was as bad as he thought. As he worked to just get air into his lungs, he glanced over at the current person making his life hell. Zuren stood across the room in a loose combat stance. Giving Sokka the courtesy to get back to his feet before continuing the fight.

"Don't mind me," Zuren taunted sarcastically, "it's not like I have other things to do then kick you around. Just give up and we can be done with this little duel."

The room had stopped spinning so Sokka slowly got to his feet. He didn't know what he was thinking when he challenged Zuren for his release. During the latest "interrogation" Zuren was asking questions about his fighting style and who his master was. After a few choice insults, Sokka had enough and demanded the right to be free. Zuren simply stated that if Sokka could beat him in a fight, he would let him go. Sokka knew it was a bad idea to start with but not that it would hurt this much.

Sokka took pride in the face that there was a rather telling bruise spreading across Zuren's face. It was the best strike he had landed this fight. Sokka himself had bruises all over his body. The fact that he was still naked was annoying at first, but that annoyance soon faded as that naked skin was soon covered in bruises.

What confused Sokka the most about his opponent was Zuren's twisted sense of fairness. Since Sokka was fighting naked, Zuren was as well. "It was only fair" he said while undressing. It was surprising at first to see all the scars that crisscrossed Zuren's body, but after a few rounds of combat, Sokka had gotten used to the idea of fighting this way. His skin was slippery with sweat, making throws and holds almost impossible. This limited some of the maneuvers he could try, but Sokka had never really been able to practice throws and holds. He never had anyone to practice them on.

"I won't give up." Sokka defiantly stated, "I'll find a way to beat you."

Shrugging slightly, Zuren stated, "You're loss, kid. Guess we do this the hard way." Leaping forward, Zuren began another attack. He always seemed to open with the same move, a simple forward punch to Sokka's face. It was easily blocked and Sokka counterattacked. His punches were blocked and the attacks continued. Each attempting to exploit what they could. Sokka tried to keep up with Zuren's pace, but he had already been exhausted to the point to where his arms soon felt almost too heavy to move.

He was just a hair to slow getting up a block, and that was when Zuren struck in earnest. The initial strike just glanced of Sokka's shoulder, but it was enough to knock him off balance. To his credit, Sokka was able to just barely stop Zuren's other fist from crashing into his gut. The following knee to the side, punch to the face, and leg sweep, has Sokka heading for the floor again. Since he was going down, Zuren's arm wound up and delivered a vicious punch to Sokka's chin. Sokka saw stars for a split second before landing on the floor unconscious.

He didn't know how long he was out, but he woke with a start. Twitching slightly, he felt a collection of stones shift and a familiar voice. "Please try to lay still Sokka. My master fractured another one of your ribs. You really should be more careful when fighting. I won't be able to patch you up forever."

Sokka smiled, his head still pounding. "Well if your master followed the plan in my head, he'd be the one you'd be patching up and I'd be free. He's a stubborn one, your master."

Ling just shook her head and smiled, "That he is." She replied, her eyes remained closed and she continued to focus on the stones placed across Sokka's chest. The stones continued to softly glow as silence fell between them. It would take a while to get Sokka to a point where he wasn't in danger of puncturing a lung accidentally.

"You know," Sokka started, "I've been wondering." When Ling didn't interrupt he continued. "You said that Zuren saved your life when your parents died, why would you decide to stay with him when you could return to your own people? I wouldn't think the fire nation would allow an earth bender to roam relatively free in their army."

"You don't know much about the Earth Kingdom then." Ling replied sadly. "Women are expected to have kids and manage the home, while the men work in the fields and go to war. Those women who are unlucky enough to become benders are ostracized from the rest of the community. Because earth benders have to be a little head strong, few men want one as a wife. Those who don't hide their bending abilities usually don't get married. My master is not your usual fire nation warrior. He appreciates my skills and what I contribute to his platoon."

"Which is?"

"I assist the platoon medic who looks after the men. I also sing on music night, which everyone enjoys. The men don't see me as an outsider, they don't care that I'm not fire nation. They think of me as a little sister, even those old enough to be my father. Truth be told, they treat me better then my own family did."

"You don't mind that they're the enemy of your people?" Sokka angrily asked, not believing what he was hearing. "That they've killed hundreds, if not thousands of people?"  
"Of course I mind!" Ling angrily shouted back, her eyes snapping open. "But Zuren isn't like that! He's trying to end the war by finding the avatar."

"The avatar?" Sokka asked, "Everyone knows that he's gone. If he didn't disappear, then he would have stopped the fire nation from starting this war. The avatar cycle is broken, he's not coming back."

"It's possible, but the fire nation needs the Avatar as much as the rest of the world. You have no idea what this war has done to the people of the fire nation. There has been so much death and killing on both sides. Zuren wants to bring an end to the conflict as much as anyone else. Finding the avatar is the only way to do that. Zuren believes that a number of air nomads escaped the attack on the air temples. The avatar must have been one of them. It was rumored that the avatar was not yet of age to even be told of his heritage."

Sokka fell silent thinking about what Ling had said. If Aang really was the avatar, it would explain the ice cocoon that they found him in. Who knows what kind of crazy powers the avatar could have. The only details he ever got was that he was the master of all the elements. It would make sense though, Aang had an innocence about him that he's never seen before. Even the children of his own tribe knew of fear and strife. If Aang disappeared before the fall of the air temples, then he would have no idea how fractured the world was. Didn't he say that he had friends all over the world? Wouldn't that include the fire nation?

"So let say, for the sake of argument, that you're right. If the avatar escaped the fall of the air temples he would be over a hundred years old by now. Don't you think he would have made an appearance to try and stop the war by now? So unless the Avatar has the power to make himself younger, I think Zuren is in for a real disappointment."

"We'll see," Ling said, trying to keep a neutral face. "I have faith in my master's plan. In the years that I've known him, he's never let me down." She reached down and started picking up the stones that she had placed across Sokka's chest. "You'll see, things tend to work out when my master takes a personal interest in it." She then stood and walked to the door. "Be careful not to damage your chest again, there is a limit to what I can fix." She stated over her shoulder.

"I'll keep that in mind, Ling. Thanks." Sokka said.

As the door opened, Ling turned to look at Sokka. "You're welcome." she replied, smiling sweetly. Then, she was gone, the door sliding shut behind her.

Sokka laid there for a few minutes thinking about what he just learned. Things didn't seem as black and white as they did in the village. The fire nation were not a bunch of heartless butchers. Zuren was actually a very reasonable person to talk to. Polite, even when trying to pull information out of him. There was a strange duality in his jailer. On on hand, he spoke softly to Sokka, being respectful and not condescending. Sokka was treated as some type of quasi-guest. Sure he was confined to this room, and still naked for some reason, but he was still treated with respect. On the other hand, Zuren was ruthless in combat. When Sokka challenged Zuren for his freedom, it was as if a completely different person took over. One that gave no quarter. Falling just barely short of delivering a killing blow.

Sitting up, Sokka rubbed his aching ribs absently. He could still feel some of the blows that Zuren delivered. The fight could have gone better, but Sokka knew that next time he faced Zuren, he'd do better. There were some predictable patterns in his forms that Sokka could exploit next time. Ranma always said that you never really loose a fight until you're dead. Every defeat is an opportunity to determine where improvement is needed. He could match Zuren in speed and power, but Zuren's experience and high pain threshold gave him the advantage. The only way Sokka could think of to improve in those areas was to fight more. He only hoped that Zuren wouldn't outright kill him in the next match, but first he needed to recover from this fight.

Looking around, Sokka spotted a thin pad in the corner that looked more comfortable then the hard metal floor he was currently sitting on. His body protested crawling to the mat, but as soon as he laid down on the mat, it stopped complaining. It wasn't much, but it was enough to quickly slip into a deep sleep.

Sokka hoped Katara was doing better then he was.

1234567890987654321

High above the fire navy ship, Katara silently watched the small metal speck that floated across the ocean below. Now that she had something to focus on, her stomach didn't bother her as much as before. At first, when the black snow began to fall, Katara thought that another fire nation patrol had spotted them. Instead, it just passed by their small island without incident. Now that Appa and Aang had found some food, they were able to follow the boat, hoping for a sign that Sokka was on board. Using the clouds as cover, they had spent the last day wondering where this boat might be headed.

"So where do you think they're going?" Aang asked when he couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"Back to the Fire nation I would think." Katara replied.

"I don't think so, they are heading north east, towards the Earth Kingdom. If what you say is true, and Fire nation is at war, maybe it's heading to a military base."

"Well wherever they are going, they haven't changed course. Aang, you said that you've traveled all over the world, is there a harbor to the north east?"

Aang took a moment to think, "I'm not sure, let me check my map." He said, jumping off Appa's head and leaping back into the saddle. He quickly dug through his gear before pulling out a big scroll. He then jumped back to Katara and rolled open to show a map of the world. "Okay, I think we're somewhere around here." He said, pointing to a collection of circles at the bottom of the page. "If we look to the northeast..." He traced his finger along the page, to another land mass, "we'll be heading towards Qaniit island. They will probably pass the eastern edge of the Patola Mountain Range."

"What about Whale Tail Island? I think I remember Gran-gran telling me that it was once a water tribe trading hub. It was lost after the re..." Katara paused, not wanting to talk about the most bloody battle in water tribe history, "umm... I mean it was abandoned to escape the fire nation navy." She knew that Aang was a little too sensitive to talk about the red sea disaster, where almost the entire water tribe navy was wiped out. So many people died that the ocean turned red with the blood of those who died. Gran-gran only told the story once to them when they were younger, the way she told it gave her nightmares for a week afterward.

Asking about Whale Tail Island sparked old memories of Aang's tour of the air temples. He didn't really hear the rest of Katara's explanation. "I remember stopping there on the way to the western air temple." His voice hollow as he remembered simpler times. "We had so much fun wave riding with my friend Suluk. She was the best wave rider on the whole island, even I couldn't keep up with her."

Katara immediately recognized the melancholy in Aang's voice. She reached out and but a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I know it's tough, being trapped in ice all that time, but you're not alone. I'm here for you and as soon as we rescue Sokka, you'll have another friend to keep you company."

"Your brother didn't seem to like me very much from before." Aang countered morosely.

"Oh Sokka's just a grump when he's playing leader. He's a lot more fun to be around when he's not being over protective. Once you save him again, he'll warm up to you, you'll see."

"If you say so." Aang replied, not really believing Katara's optimistic view.

"Now let's put our head's together and figure out a plan to bust him out for that ship."

1234567890987654321

On the ship in question, Zuren was again stepping onto the observation deck. He ignored the biting cold as he met with one of his men.

"Baku, report." He commanded the man that was standing, watching the skys.

The man snapped to attention and saluted, his eyes never leaving the sky. "Sir, I believe that we are being followed. I've spotted a suspicious cloud that's been moving in a strange way. Instead of moving with the wind, it jumps from cloud to cloud. It's been following us for a while now."

"So this could be the avatar?" Zuren asked aloud. "There are stories that air nomads once drifted across the land on the backs of clouds. Whatever is following us probably has an interest in our guest."

"It would be a logical assumption, sir."

"Bah," Zuren scoffed, "I hate assumptions. Keep watching that cloud and send a runner if it changes behavior. I want to keep this confidential for now. There is no telling what our beloved prince would do if he thought the avatar was following us."

Baku saluted again, still keeping his eyes on the sky. "Yes sir." He replied as Zuren walked inside.

"Captain Taro, a word if you may." Zuren requested, moving to the navigation table. As he approached, the navigation officer looked up from his work and quickly came to attention. "At ease Lieutenant, I just need to borrow the table for a few minutes. Go take a walk, I promise not to move any of your papers."

"Of course sir," The man complied, quickly putting a few weighted blocks on top of the maps he was working on. He then quickly shuffled out out of the room, pausing to salute the captain who was walking back to meet Zuren. As he entered to room, he pulled closed the metal door.

"Don't bother to cover the observation window, this will only take a few moments." Zuren called out, stopping the captain from pulling closed the metal shutters. The navigation room was one of the many new additions to fire navy ships in the last few years. In smaller ships, where space was limited, the traditional practice of placing the navigation table in the middle of the bridge or in the captain's quarters was still followed. On the larger war ships, where seceret orders were not always shared with the crew, a place for private discussion was created. The room itself was small, only designed to house no more then ten men, clustered around the table. The different maps of the world were all stored in the the locking wall compartments. The room itself had a number of security features to prevent the theft of maps and other logistical information. While having a secure room is useful to hold secret meetings, every crew member knew about it, making it not always the best place to hold every secret meeting.

"What do you wish to speak to me about, sir?" The captain calmly asked.

"Two things. First, I noticed that we are begging to run low of fresh water. I want you to find a suitable location to resupply, preferably a place with a protected harbor. Secondly, I want you to prepare the scouting ship for an extended trip. Our beloved prince will be traveling ahead to hopefully catch up to the avatar while we restock."

"It will be done as you command, sir." The man replied, "Though what of the prisoner? With most of the men ashore collecting water, I fear we will not have enough guards to keep him from escaping."

"I will remain behind to entertain our guest. I want every able hand ashore to assist in the water collection."

"But sir!" The captain protested, "That will leave the ship unguarded. It's tactically a poor position."

"I am aware of the danger to the ship. My orders still stand. It is more for the safety of the crew then anything else. I will have a handful of my best men on alert in case something happens. We need the restock to happen as quickly as possible."

"Very well, I will inform the crew." He then moved quickly to the door and opened it back up, passing by the navigation officer who was waiting outside to get back to work. Zuren stood there for only a moment before leaving the room. As he left the bridge he spotted his second in command idly leaning against the wall by the door to the bridge. While five years his senior, Captain Kenzo has been with Zuren since the start of his military career. As the son of a moderately powerful noble family, he was able to slowly climb the ranks of the army. His career had stalled somewhat in the last few years. While he was a brilliant squad commander and an excellent second in command, he had trouble thinking of more then the battle at hand.

"So what's this I hear about a secret meeting with the captain?" Kenzo asked arrogantly, slowly pushing off from the wall to stand near Zuren. "The rumors are already spreading across the crew. Though since it was such a short meeting, I doubt they will be anything too drastic."

Zuren just smiled and waved for Kenzo to follow him. "We are running low on water so I asked the captain to find an appropriate location to go ashore and restock."

Kenzo just laughed, "After all this time, I'm getting to know how you think. You didn't need to hold a private meeting to tell the Captain to stop and get some water. What's really going on?"

"I guess my brilliance is rubbing off on you." Zuren mock-arrogantly stated, "You're getting smarter every day. If fact, I have an important task for you. One that must not fail at all costs."

"That's just what I wanted to hear." Kenzo eagerly replied. He always liked a good fight, and Zuren was the only man that could beat him in single combat. "What dangerous task do you need me to do? There's nothing I can't handle."

"I'm putting you in command of an expedition to the southern air temple. We have reason to believe that an air nomad, possibly the avatar, is moving about in this part of the world. We need to make sure that he is not using the temple as a base to organize an insurgency. Just because no one has seen an air nomad, doesn't mean they are all dead. They could be hiding, waiting for the avatar to return."

"A scouting mission?" Kenzo asked, disappointed. "We have plenty of scouts who could do this who find that kind of work way more interesting then I do. Give me something to fight and I'm your man."

"No." Zuren said calmly. "I need you to handle this personally since Prince Zuko will be going with you. There is no one else I can trust with keeping him safe." His tone suddenly lowered to a whisper. "Unless you have forgotten about all the assassins we have come across in the last few years. I have other things to attend to here on the ship so I can't watch him."

Sighing loudly, Kenzo grumbled out a reply. "Fine, I'll babysit the kid. You owe me for this, sir. At least two drinks at the next tavern."

Zuren laughed, as Kenzo broke a smile. "It's a deal, Kenzo. Just keep Zuko safe or I'll take those drinks out of your hide." He joked.

"Yes sir!" Kenzo barked out, giving a lazy salute. He changed direction, heading to go prepare the men.

Zuren continued walking quickly making his way outside and onto the deck. As he stepped out, he spotted General Iroh standing watch over what passed for fire bending practice for his cousin. While Zuko had the same raw power that every bender in the family had, he lacked the finesse that all seasoned warriors had. Zuko would run through basic fire stances and maneuvers, then face off against some of the few benders that were on the ship. Their sparring sessions, if you could call them that, was akin to two slingers lobbing rice balls at the prince. Zuko would either dodge of punch though the attack and throw a fireball or two at the benders. The benders would deflect or dissipate the attack, much more gracefully he might add, and wait for the prince to try the move again. While Zuren found the whole process a waste of time, he was not Zuko's teacher.

"General Iroh," Zuren started, coming to a stop next to Zuko's teacher, "I have news that I must bring to my cousin's attention."

Iroh did not respond at first, he silently watched Zuko go through a few more training sets. When Zuren opened his mouth to speak again, Iroh suddenly spoke up. "So formal today nephew, it must be important. So important that it would interrupt your cousin's practice session."

"It is, though I would rather not repeat myself."

Iroh sighed, "Very well." He waited for a set to finish before he called out. "Zuko, that's enough for now." When Zuko stopped and looked towards them, Iroh continued. "Your cousin has news."

Stalking angrily over Zuko stated, "This better be good. If I am to defeat the Avatar, I must push myself to my limit. I don't have time for your interruptions."

"I'm well aware of what you must do." Zuren responded. "I have been informed of a rather major supply problem." He paused, waiting to see if Zuko would interrupt before continuing. "We are running dangerously low on fresh water. I'm afraid we'll have to stop to resupply."

"Water?" Zuko asked, his tone quickly becoming angry. "You interrupt me for this? We're in the middle of the ocean, how can we be out of water? We're surrounded by water!"

A stunned silence fell over the deck, everyone heard Zuko's yelling, it was hard not to. Zuko noticed the silence rather quickly. He glanced around, the entire crew was staring with him, most with unbelieving looks on their face.

"WHAT!?" Zuko screamed. Knocking the crew out of their daze and prompting them to go back to their business.

"Calm down Zuzu." Zuren started, "No reason to take out your anger on the crew."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Zuko yelled, turning back to glare at Zuren.

"Well when you are acting like a big dumb-dumb, I'll call you whatever I like." Zuren said, "Don't you know anything? You can't drink ocean water, it just makes you sick. What in the world did they teach you at Fire Academy?"

"They taught me enough." Zuko spat back, dismissing the question. "My mission is to capture the Avatar. To do that, I have to become stronger. Nothing else matters." Zuko spoke with such a hard conviction, Zuren didn't immediately respond.

"Well if it's that important to you, I guess we could start rationing the water. That would mean no baths, raw rice, and absolutely no tea."

"NO TEA!?" Iroh, who had been silent until now, suddenly sputtered. "That's just... just..." he stammered, trying to find the words, "...inhumane! Isn't there another option? Something that wouldn't deprive an old man one of his few joys left in this world."

Zuren thought about this for a moment before speaking. "Well, there is the scout boat. It could get you to Tomo's landing, from there you could take Hakatsu trail all the way to the temple. The only problem is that we don't have enough storage space to supply more then six people for such a lengthy journey. I don't feel comfortable sending you off with such little protection."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Iroh added, "I will accompany your cousin on his mission. We have been to the southern air temple before, it was deserted then. It probably hasn't changed."

Both men fell silent as they turned to Zuko to see if he would complain. "Just get me to the Avatar before he leaves the temple." He stated, annoyed at the fact everyone else was making the plan, "I can handle the weeds and lemurs that still live there."

"Then you best prepare." Zuren commanded, "The boat will be ready to leave shortly."

1234567890987654321

Sokka felt good. He was lazing about on a pile of furs, a bowl of tasty meats on his stomach. Above him, he quietly watched as the celestial lights danced across the sky. It was a real shame that this was only a dream. It was simple here. Without pain and suffering, only rest and relaxation. There was no worrying about bi-polar fire nation interrogators. No metal prison. Here he was safe, here he was calm.

That is, until a familiar face came into view. "Of all the dreams you could be having," Ranma started, his blue eyes full of merriment, "I'm surprised you picked something so mundane. I was half expecting you to be ankle deep in defeated fire benders by now."

Sokka shrugged as he tried his best to ignore his teacher as the boy sat down next to Sokka, the furs expanding to accommodate both of them. They sat there in silence for a moment before Sokka finally poke. "It's nice of you to finally show up," he stated, his voice full of sarcasm, "I really could have use your help."

"Well it wasn't by choice, they took off your bracers. I can't communicate with you without them connected to you."

"So how were they able to remove them when the straps disappeared the moment I put them on?" Sokka asked angrily. "I've tried multiple times to take them off and get some relief from you, but I could never find the straps."

"That's because I couldn't risk you throwing me away. I've been trying to prepare you for what is to come over the last few years." Ranma explained, a little annoyed. "Something that you didn't make easy I might add. Though we have been lucky so far..."

"Lucky?!" Sokka interrupted, ignoring the cold wind that started to blow across the dream scape. "How is anything about my situation lucky? I'm a prisoner to the fire nation. Once they figure out that the kid isn't at the air temple, I'm not going to be around much longer. The only reason I'm still alive is that they think I have information."

"True, but things are looking up. I'm here to help make a plan for escape. I'm sure we can come up with some way to get away. Our last planned worked out rather well."

"You call becoming a prisoner a good plan? I didn't like it to begin with and after what I've gone though, I like it even less!" The celestial lights dimmed as Sokka spoke, the surroundings losing focus and fading into a haze.

Ranma waved dismissively, trying to downplay that point. "Your family escaped, that was what's important. You also should note that you are still alive. Beaten up, but still alive. So you should count your blessing and find a way to get off this boat. Now that I'm here, things will be better. I promise."

Sokka opened his mouth to reply when the dream scape suddenly bloomed into a blinding light.

Gasping as he was shocked awake, he took a moment to look around. "How is this better!?" Sokka asked himself angrily. When he went to sleep, he was tucked below deck, in a warm metal prison. Now, for some reason, he was dangling over the edge of the boat, a rope restrained him and held him to a metal arm that looked like it was used to move cargo. As he twisted around, trying to free his arms he heard a voice call out to him.

"Glad of you to finally join us Sokka. You should really work on not sleeping so deeply, you never know what terrible things others will do to you while you are unconscious." He paused for a moment as Sokka tried his best to twist so he could look at who was talking. "Though I am slightly annoyed that you cost me a good stack of gold."

"Well you're welcome, anything I can do to help." Sokka spat back sarcastically. He was really getting tired of not being able to control what way he was facing. Twisting to face the deck only made him spin more.

"I would have thought you'd appreciate the chance to get out of your cell. To breath in the fresh sea air. I know how stale those cells can get."

"Being used as a fishing lure is not what I had in mind!" Sokka yelled back.

"But now I have your attention." Zuren stated. "I'm done playing games with you Sokka. You've been dancing around my questions since you became our guest. So I ask you, are you going to cooperate or should I get rid of you? I'm sure there the sea creatures would enjoy you more then I have. The southern water tribe is extinct, wiped out by the southern raiders. One of my men was there. He watched as the last of your kind was struck down. Yet here you are, years later and very much alive. Explain that to me."

"It's not so difficult to understand, fire-brains! I wasn't there to be butchered." Sokka had been able to slow his twisting to where he could now face the deck.

Zuren mulled over the response for a moment before he nodded to the man controlling the crane. "Wrong answer!" He called out, obviously enjoying this. The rope suddenly slackened and Sokka found himself falling. Letting out a surprised yelp, Sokka watched as the freezing ocean came rushing up at him, the last few days flashed through his mind. He knew that his chances of surviving were slim when he decided to stay behind to delay the fire nation. He was even surprised that he had lasted this long, not expecting to be taken prisoner. That still confused him, the fire nation only took water benders prisoner for some reason. Warriors like him were killed, because they protected the water benders.

His father believed that the fire nation wanted the benders of the tribe for some reason. Even though becoming a bender meant a life of hardship in the south, it was still considered a gift from the spirits. Benders were special, precious. That was why the fire nation captured them, because of their abilities. Sokka wasn't a bender he wasn't special in that way. The only thing special thing about him was that he found Ranma's bracers.

At this point, Sokka was just about to do a massive belly flop into the ocean. At the last moment, the rope tightened, halting Sokka's waist above the water. The momentum of his fall caused Sokka to fold around the rope. His face and feet crashing into the frozen water. One of the greatest fear of any person living on the ice was falling in. Arctic air and wet clothes did not mix, Sokka was well experienced in this fact, and immediately jerked his body out of the water. He quickly shook as much water from his face, but not enough to prevent the biting arctic air from stealing all of the warmth from his face.

At first, he panicked, trying in vain to get his arms free. Adrenaline poured into his veins, attempting to give him enough strength to break his bindings. It was useless though, the rope was too strong, the knots too expertly tied. His head burned, he knew that it wasn't long before the tips of his ears would begin to freeze. As the initial shock wore off, the more rational part of his brain kicked in. A recent memory filtered through his mind of the last time he fell into freezing water. Letting out a calming breath, Sokka focused again on the warm ball of energy that was inside of him. Where it was difficult to move the energy before, this time it leapt to his command. Soon, the burning feeling faded, and the ice that had started to form melted. By the time Zuren had raised him back to deck level, his face was warmed enough to prevent damage.

The arm shifted again, bringing Sokka within arms reach of Zuren who reached out with a cloth rag and wiped the water off of his face. "Look Sokka, I really don't want to be your enemy. I feel we are kindred spirits, both proud warriors who only want to protect our friends and family. This air bender can help our nation is ways you couldn't possibly understand. This war has been terrible for all sides, and must end."

"Humph." Sokka scoffed, "The only thing the fire nation want is to dominate the world. You could stop the war and go home right now and everyone would be better off."

"Just that simple?" Zuren shot back mockingly, "We just pack up and go home? And what is to stop the earth king from sending his armies after us to 'take revenge on those fire nation devils'?"

"They wouldn't do that!" Sokka shot back defiantly, "They would rebuild their homes that you destroyed."

Zuren just sighed and turned away, and Sokka found himself plummeting towards the sea again. He tried his best to make his screams as manly as possible as the water rushed up to him. This time, he stopped before he came close to hitting the waves. He didn't stay there long and was quickly pulled back up towards the deck. "What's the big idea!?" Sokka demanded as he was raised to the deck level. The crane arm turned and Sokka swung back onto the deck. Once he was well onto the deck, Zuren stepped forward with his hands on a sheathed sword. Before Sokka could attempt to protest, Zuren swept out his sword almost too fast to follow. Tuning the unsheathing of his sword into an attack, he sliced above Sokka's head, severing the rope that suspended Sokka.

The sudden appearance of a sword shocked Sokka, until now, Zuren had only fought unarmed. He numbly tumbled to the deck, where some guards quickly picked him up. As he was pushed back to the cell Zuren spoke up. "You know nothing of how the world works Sokka." His tone with only a hint of sadness. "If you knew anything of the history of the four nations, you would understand why we can't simply stop." The guards, who had paused to allow Zuren to speak, continued walking. Easily lifting Sokka by the rope that still bound his arms.

As he was carried into the ship, Sokka heard Ranma echo in the back of his mind. "Way to go Sokka, that went better then expected."

"That could have gone better." Zuren stated aloud, watching as his men came onto the deck from the hold. They were all ready for battle, each armed with a bow in their hands and swords strapped to heir hips. They took position along the edge of the ship, taking a moment to tie themselves to the chain that had been recently strung along the deck and anchored at regular intervals. He smiled as everything was prepared without issue. Making a note to commend Captain Yori, the man he put in charge of organizing this troop movement. From his position on the deck, Yori quickly waved a quick hand signal to let Zuren know the troops were ready. He just smiled and took his position on the middle of the deck.

All his pieces were in play. The only think left to do was focus on victory.

1234567890987654321

High above, Katara watched as Sokka was taken back into the ship using her brother's spyglass. She didn't want to admit that she was enjoying using one of Sokka's treasures. After dad left, Sokka had a special bag that he dubbed his "leader-bag". I apparently held special "chief's only" items. No matter how nicely she asked, or angrily she yelled, he would never let her see what was inside. Now that she was the village chieftain, though she technically wasn't at the village, she felt justified to finally see what the fuss was about. She expected the knifes and the pouch of jerky, though the metal tools and small books inside a wooden box were a surprise. She had no idea what the tools and books were for, but she had seen Sokka use the spyglass before. It took a while to get the hang of it, she now was able to easily watch the ship.

"It looks like Sokka is okay, they are taking him back inside the ship. Are you sure you want to try this?" She asked, putting down the spyglass for a moment to look at Aang.

"It's out best opportunity to rescue him. Appa drops me off on the deck and I follow Sokka into the ship. I'll just air blast the guards to knock them out and then grab Sokka and come back onto the deck where you'll have Appa pick us up. Shouldn't be too difficult." They were getting close now. Aang thought up this plan the first moment they spotted Sokka. While being held in the ship, Aang would have to search each room and hope to stumble across Sokka. With him on the deck, he could just swoop in and grab him. At least that was the plan as they flew as low as possible, approaching the ship from behind to avoid detection.

Aang pulled back the reins, directing Appa to ascend, and prepared to jump off as soon as they rose above the desk.

Being slightly higher on Appa's back, Katara saw the troops first. "Aang wait!" she yelled out, "It's a trap!"

Relaxing slightly, Aang took in the scene on the deck. At least 50 solders were waiting for him, armed with bows and ready to fire. In most cases, Aang could easily just bend the air and make the arrows miss their mark. If he jumped onto the deck now, Katara and Appa would be sitting ducks. Sokka would have to wait. "Oh monkey-feathers..." he cursed, watching the solders who watched him fly by.

"What do we do now?" Katara asked.

"There's not much to do, we follow them and hope we can find another opportunity to save your brother." With one last look back at the solders, Aang sat down and flew away from the ship. While he was one for heroics, even he knew there was just no way to get Sokka right now.

As the bison sped away, Zuren breathed a sigh of relief. His hasty plan to protect his men from an air bender was untested. He had expected a fully realized avatar to come blasting in, scattering his troops and pushing many overboard. Now that he had gotten a good look at the air bender, he realized that he was still a child. That should have been impossible since the avatar was an young air bender before the war started. There was no way that he could have died four times to bring the cycle around again without someone finding him. Doubt started creeping into Zuren's mind. Maybe this air bender wasn't the avatar. A more likely explanation is that the kid didn't even know he was the avatar. Historically, avatars started training the other elements when they turned sixteen. This changed everything. Zuren had only guesses and assumptions to work with, all of them expecting someone over a hundred years old. Now that the last known air bender wasn't even old enough to be considered a teenager, he needed to re-evaluate the situation.

Zuren smiled as he signaled his men to stand down. He would instruct the captain to make best speed to Qaniit Island. They have given Zuko enough of a head start to make it to the air temple by now. From the limited supplies that he spotted on the back of the flying beast, he figured that they would have to resupply soon. The southern air temple would be the logical choice for their first stop once they rescue Sokka. All he had to do was get them to rescue him without sacrificing any of his men.

As he walked onto the bridge he had a plan formed. It was time for him to have a little heart to heart with the air bender. He had the bait, now all he needed was to prepare a proper trap.

1234567890987654321

Aang was bored out of his mind. After the aborted attempt to save Sokka, he had been at a loss of what to do. They had spent the next few days monitoring the ship as it slowly made it's way north. They stopped to sleep and give Appa a rest when needed. During this time,Aang tried to cheer Katara up, but the dread and anxiety of not knowing if Sokka was still alive hung over them like storm clouds. She didn't smile and laugh at his jokes, instead she always had either a serious or sad look on her face. Even only seeing it a few times he missed her smile. Aang would sometimes watch Katara practice her bending while Appa rested. Having seen some of the best water benders in the world before being trapped in the iceberg Aang was able to tell that Katara was a raw beginner. Katara's moves was nowhere near as graceful, or effective, but she didn't quit though. Every free moment she was at the ocean's edge. When he asked if she wanted to explore the island or see something cool she would always decline.

He didn't want to admit it, but his body still felt groggy from his time in the ice burg. So he really wasn't trying that hard to show off, but resting was boring. His mind wanted to do something, but his body didn't. As the days passed, his body recovered, but he was still bored. If was a lot harder to have fun all by yourself, and Aang didn't really feel like being that far away from his friends. On the bright side, Katara was quickly getting better after every session. Aang did like watching her, but he wanted something to do that was bit more exciting.

So when they came within sight of the protected harbor of Qaniit Island, Aang perked up. The ship looked like it was heading strait for land. They might be stopping for a while, which would give them another chance to save Sokka. While the boat was moving, he could only approach from the air. If the boat was stationary, he could swim out to the boat and quietly slip on board. If he was lucky, he could avoid the guards and find where the holding cells were. Getting Sokka back was a sure fire way of cheering Katara up.

Once he rescued Sokka, things would get better.

1234567890987654321

Inside the cargo hold, Zuren was addressing his squad commanders. "We've spotted Qaniit Island today and will be soon making land fall. Our main mission is to resupply our dangerously low water reserves. We will use the assault ramp to offload the majority of our ground squads and our two pieces of mechanized armor."

"Finally!" Lieutenant Kenta exclaimed happily, "My boys have been itching for some riding time." He was the one of the few benders that were attached to Zuren's platoon. Compared to other fire benders, Kenta was almost dead last in the ranking. He was good at basic fire blasts, but was completely incompetent when it came to hand to hand combat. Inside a tank was where his true talent lay. At the siege of Ba Sing Se, his armored platoon had been the first to break the earth kingdom's lines. Once split, Iroh's reinforcements widened the gap and gained access to a large portion of the great wall. After a week of fierce battle, the mining teams had dug far enough into the wall to set blasting charges and take down a large portion of the great wall.

"Good," Zuren acknowledged, "you will be transporting the majority of the water to and from the fresh water lake that is a few miles inland. I'm assigning five squads to your command to assist in gathering the water. The rest will be unloading all of our supplies and performing a complete inventory. I want the ship empty of all supplies when I do the prisoner exchange in case the air bender really is the avatar and decides to destroy the ship after getting his friend back."

"You don't really think that will happen?" Captain Yori asked "We all saw that the air bender is just a kid."

"The air bender is still a big unknown for us. We don't really know if he is a danger or not. We didn't send the landing craft with Prince Zuko so in case the ship is destroyed, we can still send a team to request assistance from the fire navy. I'm also expecting us to reach a major port soon, and I want to know what we are low on."

"What about the crew?" Ship Captain Taro asked, "What would you have us do while this is going on?"

"Once everything in unloaded, we will move the ship to the center of the harbor and drop anchor. I want you to take the boilers offline and do the maintenance that we're been putting off. When we rendezvous with the prince, I have feeling we won't have many more opportunities for repairs. Our enemy today is not another army or navy, it's not even the world itself. Complacency is our opponent. For many of us, it has been years since our last combat mission, so I want you to be extra careful. We are a long way from home, and small mistakes can be fatal. We still have a job to do, and I won't take death as an excuse for not getting it done. Prepare your squads, I want to move out as soon as we possible, dismissed."

The men all saluted as one before moving out of the hold to prepare. Sure there were no enemies to fight, but it has been a while since they have been able to practice their tactical skills on solid ground. It would be good practice if they ever returned from this quest and rejoined the war.

1234567890987654321

Aang had always loved the skys. To him, nothing was more fun then flying. With the wind blowing in his face, racing and twisting around and through clouds, performing loops and daredevil dives. The ground was just something to push off of as you floated into the air. Today was different though. Today he was perfectly happy to lazily sit in a tree, listening to the forest noise. Being here meant not going crazy up in the air, slowly following a metal monstrosity. Doing so sucked all the fun out of flying. Air was dynamic, twisting and turning at seemingly random points. The last few days was flying in a strait line, without any real change of scenery. Even cloud watching was getting boring.

He glanced down to Katara who was quietly sitting in some nearby bushes. She had that accursed spyglass out again. She would spend hours stating at the fire nation ship, completely ignoring the world around him. The few times she had tried to do something to break the mood and get her to smile, she would just ignore him and say that's nice.

"Hey Aang, it looks like the ship is coming into the harbor." Katara yelled up.

"That's great." Aang halfheartedly stated. He was tired of waiting and wanted to try something. The only positive of all this waiting around was that Appa had a chance to eat. He had lost a bit of weight when they ware trapped in the iceberg. The rich summer grasses and other edible plans were really doing a wonder for his health. He'd be back to a normal weight in no time. Then they could fly longer and further without the many breaks they had to take during the day.

With nothing else to do, Aang began to watch the ship come into port. Without the spyglass, he could only barely make out any real detail. The sound was easy enough to hear. The clanging of metal of the front of the ship lowering and the strange metal wagons moving down that ramp echoed across the harbor. The wagons were moving away from them, so they were in no danger in being discovered.

"It looks like they are unloading a bunch of barrels onto the shore for some reason." Katara noted, the spyglass giving her a better view of what was going on. "We might be able to slip onto the ship while everyone is distracted unloading."

"I actually was thinking about that." Aang admitted, flipping down from the branches. "I can use my air scooter to cross the harbor and slip onto the ship without them noticing. Then I can run through the ship and find Sokka. With most of the troops off the ship for some reason it should be easy to search the ship. Then I bust him out and we make a break for it while you wait with Appa and pick us up once we get off the ship."

"So you do all the dangerous stuff while I wait safely tucked away? I can help too, you know." Katara stated, annoyed that she would be relatively useless in saving Sokka.

"They'd spot Appa before we could get close enough to get you onto the ship. We have to do this as quick as possible, that calls for an air bender."

"Fine..." Katara grumbled, "But we should change your clothes, bright orange is not a color for sneaking around."

1234567890987654321

Sokka was in agony. Every fiber of his being burned as he twisted and turned. Everything hurt, his fingers tingled, and he didn't think he could feel his toes anymore. His mussels shook with fatigue and his breath was ragged. He didn't know how much longer he could hold on.

"And release" Ranma commanded.

With a gasp of relief, Sokka came out of his one legged stance that was almost impossible hold. His mussels finally giving out, he tumbled to the floor taking in deep, calming breaths. He had lost track of how long he had been down here alone after his little trip overboard. From the moment the door closed, Ranma had pushed him to workout.

"Remind me why I agreed to do this again?" Sokka asked aloud.

Ranma bent over Sokka and smirked that "I know everything" smirk that he hated at times like these. "Because it was either this or I pester you until you do. Besides, it's good for you. You can match Zuren on pure skill, but he has a lot more power and is a lot more durable then you are. We'll deal with your toughness once we get out of here, but you need to be a lot more stronger."

Sokka just groaned and put an arm over his face. "I hate it when you are right. It means nothing but pain for me. I can barely move as it is."

Ranma just laughed in response. "If you can barely move, then we can continue working out."

Sokka winced as he knew what was coming next.

"The path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril." Ranma stated dramatically.

"Sure, only replace peril with pain and suffering in this case." Sokka grumbled, sitting up stiffly. When Ranma didn't respond to his quip he opened his mouth to ask if he agreed when Ranma shushed him.

"Don't talk and listen. Something is different." Sokka paused, straining his ears. He really couldn't hear anything. It quiet, which was odd. There was always a quiet hum in the background. Ranma explained that it was the steam engine. That you could hear it on almost all points of the ship. His cell was relatively close to the engine room and that noise had been a constant during him time here. He had gotten used to that noise. "They shut down the broilers. That only happens when they come into dock for a long stay. Get dressed, we might have visitors soon."

Sokka happily moved to wipe off his sweat covered body with some rags that Ling had left for him. He quickly dressed in his underclothes and lower layer, leaving his parka off since it was so warm inside. Using the parka as a pillow, Sokka laid down are waited. It wasn't long before the door to his cell rattled open. As with the last times, a smiling Zuren walked into the room. This time, he was accompanied by two guards. He had yet to determine their names, but he recognized them as the same guards that always followed Zuren to their "meetings". He wondered what they wanted this time.

"Good news!" Zuren happily stated, "Your time as our guest has come to an end. Your friends will be arriving shortly and I want to make sure they have a warm welcome. We need to get you ready."

"My friends?" Sokka asked, sitting up. "You're going to use me as bait for a trap and your 'warm welcome' is probably a fire blast. Why not just kill me and get it over with. They aren't dumb enough to fall into such an obvious trap."

"Of course you're bait," Zuren replied, suddenly springing into action. He reached forward and grasped the front of Sokka's shirt. Before Sokka knew what was going on, he was pulled up, into the air for a moment, and then slammed into the deck. His exhausted body screaming again in agony. "but not in the way you are thinking." Zuren finished, as if there was no break to his conversation. "I'm actually rather excited to finally meet this air bender. His people were wiped off the face of the earth before I was born." Zuren quickly bound Sokka's arms behind his back. The knots in the rope tighter then what Sokka was used to. Once done, Zuren hauled Sokka to his feet and pushed him for the door. "Cheer up Sokka! By the end of the day, you'll either be dead, which would be a shame, or with your friends. Either way, you'll be out of here. I know how much you dislike being our guest."

"Oh goody," Sokka dead paned, "you'll have to excuse my lack of enthusiasm about being used as bait."

"But you are so good at it." Zuren stated. "Your friends have been following us for days. You must be important to them."

They walked in silence up to ship's deck. Sokka having some difficulty moving after such a long workout session with Ranma. It didn't help that he couldn't use his arms to balance himself. Once they reached the deck, Sokka was momentarily taken aback by what was setup. The first thing he noticed was the catapult, ready to fire, with a pillow below the swing arm. What was weird was that it was pointed towards the stern, where if fired, it would almost certainly hit the bridge of the ship. What confused Sokka more was the small table setup a short distance away. He wasn't quite sure what all the different *dishes* were for, but was sure it was all part of Zuren's nefarious plan.

The guards moved Sokka to where the cushion sat and forced him to sit down. "I see you noticed the trebuchet setup on the deck. It's quite the ingenious siege engine. You put a heavy weight on one end, and a lighter projectile attached to the other. That is the end you will be attached to." As Zuren talked, his men brought a length of chain, that was attached to the long arm, and secured it around Sokka's neck, locking it into place. "Now normally, we would rig up a release mechanism to prevent the projectile from slamming into the deck, but for you... I think the deck can take it."

"Isn't that a rather elaborate way to kill me? Am I not good enough for a simple sword or spear? It'd be much simpler."

"True, but I've never killed anyone like this before." Zuren stated rather plainly. "I have a bet going with my second in command. He thinks the impact on the deck will kill you, I think the initial pull off the ground will snap your neck. If it turns out that we have to kill you, could you try to kick your legs... for science that is."

Sokka just glared at Zuren, not sure what else to do. This was a side of Zuren that he never saw in their "interrogations". He always dismissed any talk of Sokka's torture or death. Acting like it was a rather barbaric subject, yet here he was, thinking up a new and interesting way to kill him. Acting like it was as plain as the rising sun.

"I'll take that as a 'I'll see what I can do'." Zuren stated. One of the guards then began to put a gag on Sokka as the other held his head. "You'll have to excuse my men. I don't want you to interrupt my meeting. Wish me luck." Turning away, Zuren walked to the small table and sat on one of the two cushions set out.

As if timed a blue streak flew from the ocean and landed on the deck. In what looked like one of Katara's spare parkas, the kid that Sokka only just met, landed a few paces away. Sliding to a stop as he took in the scene in front of him.

"So," Zuren drawled, acting casually calm, "the elusive air bender finally decides to join us. I would think the boredom of following us from the clouds would have encouraged you to try something sooner."

"I demand that you return Sokka!" Aang yelled out. Trying his best to be intimidating.

"Of course," Zuren replied, "though I can't guarantee that he'll still be able to breath when he does. It all depends on you."

"Me?" Aang's intimidating stance cracked, confusion settling onto his face.

"Rumor speculates that an air bender from the southern temple was the avatar. Since you are the only living air bender from that temple, you must know where the avatar is."

"I am not the last air bender!" Aang denied, anger seeping into his voice.

"Hmmm... well, I have never properly met an air bender, would you honor me by sharing a cup of tea?" Zuren asked, motioning to the teapot and small snacks he had arranged in front of him.

This gave Aang pause for a moment. He was expecting to have a daring chase through the ship and then an amazing escape. Not a calm request to sit and enjoy a cup of tea. He glanced over at Sokka, he had a good idea how catapults worked and knew that if that guard pulled even a little on the release handle, Sokka was in for a world of hurt.

"Oh don't worry about your friend." Zuren called out, noticing where Aang was looking. "He is here to make sure you don't try anything uncivilized. I'll give him back once we have a chance to talk."

"You promise?" Aang asked, not sure what to do.

"On my honor as a marital artist." Zuren plainly stated. Even though his words didn't seem to reassure Aang, the young boy did walk forward and sat at the small table.

"Alright, I'm here. So talk." Aang commanded, clearly unhappy.

"Thank you for cooperating... Tea?" Zuren asked. When Aang didn't respond, Zuren shrugged and took the metal kettle off a small oil burner and poured the hot water into a smaller porcelain teapot. "I have to admit that I feared that you would have attacked the ship the moment you first caught up to us. I was expecting a hundred year old master of all the elements to rip my ship in two and take what he wanted."

Aang tried to hide a grimace, but remained silent.

"But you are not a master of all elements now, are you?" Zuren asked rhetorically, reaching into bin of water and pulling out a pair of cups that had been submerged. Taking a clean piece of cloth, he gently dried the cups, setting them in the middle of the table. "Though you might one day, assuming you actually are the avatar and not some lucky survivor."

"What difference does it make?" Aang asked, finally breaking Zuren's monologue. "I just want my friend back."

"Your friend is quite the interesting boy." Taking the porcelain teapot, Zuren pured two cups of tea before setting down the kettle. "While still rough, he'll become a great warrior one day. He may even grow to become an obstacle to the fire nation, and obstacles are for killing. If given the chance, he would be quite the valuable addition to any army that he joined. Sokka tells me that he lives alone, without family or friends to help him survive the harsh winter of the south pole. It's my belief that it would be best for him to stay under my protection. Here he would have people to look after him an make sure he lived a good life."

"How could being a prisoner be considered a good life? People are meant to be free to make their own choices. Sokka deserves to be released."

Zuren paused, picking up a cup of tea and blowing on it gently to cool it a little. "Sokka is my guest. He may resent the fact that he doesn't have free reign of the ship now, but it's as much for his protection as ours. The world is not kind to children on their own. Sokka would not be the first child that I took in and protected. What would you have him do if I gave him back? Take him south and drop him off at the first big iceberg?"

"Well... No..." Aang murmured. He was unsure what his plans were going to be for himself, let alone Sokka. He hadn't thought that far ahead. "I was kinda thinking he could travel with me."

"You?" Zuren asked skeptically, "You're younger then he is. How could a child protect him from the world? From the war? The avatar could easily take refuge in the various earth kingdom villages, but they wouldn't give a bunch of kids a second glance. People don't help strangers out of the kindness of their hearts." Letting out a breath to calm down, Zuren waited for a response. He took a few sips of his tea, watching the young boy in front of him. He had to give the kid some credit. His tough facade lasted longer then Zuren expected. Now the kid was nervously staring at his tea cup, obviously trying to think up something, anything to say.

"I see this distresses you, maybe we should change topics. Since you are an air bender, maybe you could tell me what happened to the avatar."

Aang looked up, not expecting that question either. "I don't know..." He nervously said, "I didn't know the avatar... I knew people who knew him, but I didn't."

It took all Zuren had to keep his face calm. The kid was a terrible liar, he obviously knew something. Maybe it was time to force the answer out of him. "That is a pity." Zuren said sadly. "Like I said, I would be willing to release Sokka to the Avatar, but not a simple air bender. I will honor my promise to return him to you, but he is a threat to my people. I hope you understand."

Aang thought he was confused before, but now he had no idea what was going on. He opened his mouth to ask what Zuren meant when he was interrupted.

"Sergent!" Zuren called out, the guard at the release perking up. "Fire the catapult."

"Wait!" Aang called out, alarmed that the realization that Sokka was about to be killed. Zuren raised his hand and turned back to Aang.

"You going to try that again with the truth this time?"

Aang wilted and slowly mumbled quietly but still loud enough for Zuren to hear him, "I'm the Avatar. Please don't kill him."

Zuren made a hand signal and smiled, "Excellent. Now we can have a civilized conversation. I am Colonel Zuren of the 44nd limited army company." He stated, bowing his head respectfully.

After a moment, Aang realized he was waiting for him to introduce himself. "I'm Aang of the southern air temple." He stated nervously, unaccustomed to giving formal greetings.

"I'll get directly to the point, the fire lord has tasked me to assist in finding and capturing the avatar, bringing him back to the Fire Nation." He watched as Aang glanced around the deck, expecting someone to leap out at him. "I said assist, it is not me who must complete this task. It is my cousin, Prince Zuko who must capture you."

"Why tell me this?" Aang asked. Still jumpy from almost loosing Sokka.

"Zuko was given this task because it was assumed to be impossible, but now that you have returned, he will be determined to catch you. He is still young and idealistic, clinging to the old ways of honor and a offering fair fight. If you were older, you would understand why I would ask a favor of you."

"A favor? Why would I want to do that?"

"Because I would return your friend as payment to this favor. My cousin is important to the survival of my people and there is only so much I can do to keep him safe. When he enters into battle with you, he will not try to kill you or your friends, I ask that you do the same for him."

"Wait... you want me to not kill someone? That's crazy! Why would I want to kill anybody?"

"If is not just you that would be bound to this promise, but your friends as well as my allies. Sokka is Water Tribe, his people are known for their ruthlessness. He has the skills to kill, but has not had a target until now. My men are all veterans fighting the earth nation armies, they are no strangers to death. Without a civil agreement between our two forces, I'm afraid that Sokka is too dangerous to be released. I will not jeopardize the lives of those under my command that way."

"Well... If it means that you let Sokka go... then yes, we have an agreement. Can we go now?"

Zuren nodded, "Sergent, please release our guest." He commanded while standing up. The guard quickly removed the chain around Sokka's neck. "You must excuse me master avatar." Zuren stated, bowing, "I have other duties to attend to. I'm sure you can find your own way off the ship."

Aang watched for a moment as both Zuren and the guard walked into the ship. The bulkhead slamming behind them. Aang sighed once the men were out of sight. Once he admitted to being the avatar the conversation wrapped up rather unexpectedly. He didn't think it would be so easy to get Sokka back. This was not the kind of rescue he was expecting. Aang got up and signaled Katara to come pick them up. He then worked on loosening Sokka's bindings. He worked silently, feeling uncomfortable speaking at first. The last time they spoke, Sokka had threatened to attack him.

"Hey..." Sokka started nervously, "Umm... I know you didn't need to come get me, but... thanks."

"Your welcome." Aang replied. "It was the least I could do. I didn't mean to bring trouble to your family."

Sokka signed, "I know, you're just some goofy kid. Which is why you need someone like me around, to keep you out of trouble."

"Really?!"

"Well someone's gotta do it. Besides, I still have a score to settle with mister fancy pants. I didn't hear what you two talked about, but I know that he's going to be chasing after you. If I stick around with you, I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to take him down a peg or two."

"Well, I guess that's as good of a reason as any..." Aang murmured.

"So..." Sokka asked after another moment of silence. "You have a plan to get us out of here, or do we have to swim to shore?"

"Of course..." Aang stated, "I know the fastest way to travel..." As the words left his mouth Appa came swooping onto deck, landing a few feet away. "...my flying bison!" He ended dramatically.

"Huh... he can fly." Sokka stated dumbly distracted by the fact that such a large animal could even get off the ground. He was do distracted that he missed his sister barrelling down on him, until she almost bowled him over with a crushing hug.

"Sokka! Thank goodness you're okay. I was so worried we weren't going to get you back."

"I takes more then a whole platoon of fire nation solders to keep me down." Sokka arrogantly stated, returning the hug. "But we should really get out of here. You never know what crazy thing these guys might try next."

Katara broke the hug and the three of them climbed aboard. Aang taking the reigns and directing Appa to take off and fly away. Feeling better the further he got away from the cold hearted Zuren and that metal monstrosity. They had gotten Sokka back, which was supposed to be a victory, but it didn't feel like it. That whole conversation made him uneasy. The way Zuren calmly expected him to destroy the ship looking for Sokka, and how easily he gave the command to kill Sokka was troubling. Zuren spoke of death like it was an everyday occurrence. People in his time were never so ruthless.

How had the world become so screwed up?

1234567890987654321

On the bridge, Zuren watched as the bison flew away. He actually felt a bit of sadness that Sokka was no longer on board. That kid was still rough, but given enough time, he would probably be quite the formidable opponent. It had been many years since Zuren found anyone that even had a chance to challenge him. The best fighters left home to fight and die in the war. Those that survived, by either choice or injury, were rarely willing to fight unless absolutely necessary. There were few artisans left, mainly stuffy old men who would rather sip tea all day then spar. Sokka was someone different, his fighting forms didn't have the mechanical blandness that professional solders have. So few train without a sword or spear and those fights usually end when one kills another. There was no beauty in war and brutality. You had to be one step ahead of your enemy and have more friends to back you up when you fight to survive. There were no fair fights in war, no honor duels.

Zuren came out of his musings as Baku walked onto the bridge. "Sir, engineering reports that repairs are proceeding on schedule and we will be ready to fire the main broiler by daybreak tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sergent. Is there anything else?"

"Only a question, why did you let the avatar escape with Sokka so easily? We could have waited for him to board the ship and then trap him between bulkheads. The ship is designed to defend against boarding parties by separating them. Then we could all go home and prince Zuko would regain his honor."

"Perhaps," Zuren mused, "but catching the Avatar is my cousin's task. If we did it for him, then the honor would be ours and not his. It was also too risky, the avatar is not one to be taken lightly."

"But he's just a kid, what harm could he do?"

"His age is the problem. The avatar is power personified. If cornered, he may tap into that bottomless wellspring of power. I doubt he's had time to train how to control how much he uses so if he looses control, then all bets are off. I wouldn't be surprised if that kid could rip this ship apart and flatten or drown every one of us without breaking a sweat. We need more information before we even attempt a capture. The only way to do that is follow and watch. We'll only get one shot to get this right, and if we screw it up, we're not getting a second one."

"Understood, sir." Baku replied.

"Thank you for the status report, you are dismissed."

Baku saluted and then left the bridge, leaving Zuren alone again. Glancing out the window, Zuren noted that the bison was now too far away to be seen. He remained there, plotting his next move. Chasing the avatar would be like chasing the wind. The bison was faster then their ship, but it had to stop and rest where he could rotate the crew. He also outnumbered them substantially, but that wouldn't mean anything in a head to head fight. They had nothing to gain by staying in the fight and could easily escape his conventional solders.

Zuren had a feeling that life was going to a lot more interesting from here on out.

1234567890987654321

"How's he doing?" Aang asked once they were a good distance away from the ship.

"Sleeping for now. He seems okay, but totally exhausted. I don't know what they did to him, but he seems okay for now." Sitting at the front of the saddle, she rested her chin on the edge. Letting out a tired sigh, she tried to relax. She had been barely able to get any sleep and it was catching up to her.

"I guess I should head south." Aang stated sadly. "Take you back home."

"You could," Katara stated, "but I've been thinking. If I ever want master water bending, I'll need to find a teacher. There isn't anyone in the south pole who can help, but maybe in the North there is. If you and Appa would take me, I can find a master."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Aang happily exclaimed. "I was thinking of heading there anyway so we might as well travel together."

"Then it's decided." Katara said tiredly. "Though if we are going to travel that far, we'll need more supplies."

"That's not a problem, we can just head to the southern air temple. I'm sure we can get plenty of traveling gear from the monks there. I can show you around the temple as well. It's a beautiful place this time of year."

1234567890987654321

High in the mountains, Kenzo had only one thought on his mind. "I hate how depressing this temple is." He grumbled quietly.

"I have to agree with you, Captain." Iroh stated quietly. "Though it seems that it has improved since last we were here."

Eyeing the brush that grew anywhere it could take root, Kenzo sighed. "That's only because we burned the dead last time we were here. It was horrifying when there were skeletons everywhere, but now it's just spooky."

"A great sorrow occurred here, it is only natural that the land weeps. Take heart that the land will one day recover."

Kenzo opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by one of his men. "Captain! You're going to want to take a look at this."

"By your leave, general." Kenzo excused himself bowing slightly.

Watching the Captain run off, Iroh decided to go looking for this nephew. They reached the temple a few hours ago and Zuko immediately wanted to go looking for a good place to ambush the Avatar. They had explored a large portion of the temple the last time they were here. The first thing Zuko did when he was banished was go to each of the air temples. This was the last place they went and it was the worst. Where the other temples were basically deserted, this temple was different. There were bodies everywhere, both air nomad and fire nation. Everyone, even Zuren's more hardened solders were horrified at the battlefield. Giving the dead an honorable end was the least they could do.

Iroh had read the action reports and knew that it was a costly campaign, one that weakened the army for years. The rumors that the Avatar was at the southern air temple caused Sozin himself to lead the attack on the temple. That was the only detail he could find other then they won and many men were lost. It was an obvious instance of someone preventing the details of the battle from getting out. Iroh could only speculate on what actually happened here a hundred years ago.

Iroh found Zuko at one of the higher courtyards. He sat looking out into the distance, watching the sun beginning to dip past the clouds. As he walked up, Zuko glanced behind him and sighed. "This place is depressing." He stated simply.

"As it was the last time we were here."

"It's not that... It's the fact that this place has doorways but no doors, open windows, and lots of openings. There's no good ground to attack the avatar on, everywhere is too spacious, with too many places to escape. It's as if these people didn't care about their own privacy." Zuko fell silent, staring out into horizon. After so long without a solid lead, Zuko just wanted to get this over with. Either he could defeat the Avatar or not. He would regain his honor or he would die trying. Zuren had drilled into his brain that you should never fight on even ground. That you should always find an advantage over the enemy. Here, there was no advantage to be had, it was just too open.

"Nephew, if the avatar runs, you have not lost." Iroh stated, breaking Zuko from his thoughts. "It's not winning the first battle that is important, it's gaining victory in the end. We know almost nothing about the avatar, and an unknown enemies are the most difficult to defeat. Take this opportunity to learn what you can, so you can win when on more favorable ground."

Zuko signed again, staring off into space. He knew that Iroh was trying to be helpful, but Zuko didn't want to be cheered up. This whole situation was hopeless. Every possible scenario he could think up ended with the avatar escaping or the avatar blasting him off the mountain. He needed a place to contain the fight, somewhere dark to set a trap.

"Prince Zuko! General Iroh!" Zuko glanced over as one of the solders came running up.

Turning to face the man, Iroh spoke, "What is it Captain?"

"We found something down in the lower levels that might interest you."

"What could that be?" Zuko asked sarcastically, "Another empty storeroom? We explored every room and corridor in this place last time we were here. What wasn't empty had 100 year old trash in it."

The captain just smiled, "Why don't you come and take a look. I'm betting it would make your day."

Zuko thought about it for a moment before getting up and dusting himself off. "We'll see about that captain. Just show me what you found."

A short walk down a few levels later, they came upon a break in the corridor. It was literally a hole in the wall. A perfectly circular tunnel that traveled into the center of the mountain.

"This is earth bender work." Iroh commented, running a finger along the edge of the opening. "Relatively recent, maybe in the last year."

"Grave robbers most likely, sir." Captain Kenzo surmised. "Must have been looking for a treasure vault or something."

"I don't think so," Zuko stated. "air benders have no need for excessive wealth. They only used gold when they needed to trade with other nations. These were monks more interested in sitting around, meditating then collecting things. Why would an earth bender make the effort to come all the way here? I'm sure there are easier places to rob from."

"This was no common thug that dug this tunnel." Iroh commented. "The edges are smooth and perfectly circular. A novice would just punch through the wall, possibly damaging anything on the other side."

"Well whoever did this is long gone." Kenzo commented, unhooking the small candle lantern he had on his belt. "We might as well take a look. General, could you give me a light?" He held up the lantern. Iroh reached in and snapped his fingers, leaving a small flame on the candle. Once lit, Kenzo brushed past Zuko, heading into the tunnel. "I'll head in first in case they left traps behind." He mentioned over his shoulder, moving slowly.

Zuko opened his mouth to protest, but Iroh cut him off. "Nephew, let the man do his job." He stated quietly.

"I don't need a babysitter. I know how to avoid traps." He spat back, annoyed at the insult.

"True," Iroh agreed, putting a comforting hand on Zuko's shoulder. "but you're not invincible, and one can never be too careful around the unknown."

Zuko shrugged off Iroh's hand and walked into the tunnel, grumbling as a small flame sprung into life in his hand. Iroh decided to give Zuko some space and followed. After a good distance, the tunnel curved upwards and opened into a large cavern. As soon as Iroh entered, he knew what this room was, the sanctuary. It was the most private place in the air temple accessible only by master air benders. Here is where the monks could meditate without distraction.

As Zuko and Iroh started to explore the room, Captain Kenzo called over. "You'll want to look at this, I think I know who was here before us." The pair walked over to look at another break in the wall. There was a large slab of rock carefully laying a short distance away. It looked like it had been carefully removed to expose a honeycomb of empty slots dug into the wall.

"Well? Who was it?" Zuko asked.

"The worst kind of thief there is. Ones that not only take the gold, but every useless knickknack and trinket they could find. Some of them will even steal the dead... I'm talking about the most despicable people of all...Archaeologists." Kenzo stated boldly. Zuko shot him a confused look. Kenzo continued more seriously. "This was obviously a hidden wall that could hold hundreds of scrolls. Like the entryway, this wall was removed without damaging anything. The slab was even laid face up to allow someone to study the mosaic. Grave robbers look only for gold, archaeologists look for historical artifacts. A wall full of scrolls about a now extinct people would be the find of a lifetime."

"It would explain why someone went though the trouble of coming up here." Iroh mused.

"And how does that little gem of information help?" Zuko asked.

"Damned if I know." Kenzo shrugged. "But this is the only enclosed room in the whole mountain..."

"Which means we might finally have a chance of catching the avatar." Zuko finished for him. His voice then took on a more commanding tone. "Captain, gather the men. I want a lookout on the highest point watching for any approach. We have work to do."

Kenzo just smiled as he came left to gather their supplies. Finally, the prince was taking charge. This was going to get interesting.

12345678987654321

Sokka awoke as Appa landed for the night, rested and felling a million times better then he had before he escaped from the fire nation. He untied the rope that held him to the saddle and prevented him from rolling around.

"How you feeling?" Katara asked, walking across the saddle.

Sokka stretched and crawled out of the sleeping roll. "Better then I did yesterday." Katara shot him a worried look, "I mean I'm feeling great. No need to worry. It's not like they tortured me or anything."

"So what did happen? Why did they kidnap you?"

Sokka noticed Aang starting to unhook the saddle and motioned Katara to follow him as he slid off to the ground. "I needed to give the village more time to escape so I challenged their leader to a duel."

"A duel? Are you insane?" Katara exclaimed. "You're not a warrior like dad is."

"Relax sis, I'm not helpless you know. Besides, they were more interesting in finding Aang then chasing after the village. I was useful to their plan. When I served my purpose of getting Aang onto the boat, they let me go."

"But if you were bait for a trap, why didn't they try to capture Aang when he got there."

Sokka shrugged, "Dunno, they wanted to talk with him about something. I was too far away to hear."

"He wanted to make a deal." Aang spoke while unsaddling Appa. "He said some guy named Zuko is going to try and capture me and had me promise not to kill him before he would let you go. I don't even know why he wanted a promise, it's not like I'd intentionally hurt anyone. It makes me sick just thinking about it."

"They want to capture you?" Katara spoke up. "Why?"

"Who cares why." Sokka stated, "What's important is that we get as far away from that boat full of crazy people as possible. As water tribe, it is our duty to mess up any fire nation plot we come across. If that means keeping Aang from this Zuko guy, then that's what we're going to do."

Katara nodded, agreeing with Sokka's plan. The north pole was about as far away as they could get from here.

"For now, you two should get some sleep. I'll keep watch in case they found a way to follow us."

Aang and Katara nodded and got ready for bed. After a while, the pair were settled and quickly went to sleep. The stressful day quickly catching up with them. Once Sokka was sure they were asleep, he quietly slipped out of the camp and went looking for a place that he could train without disturbing the others. He had all night to kill and Ranma would bother him constantly if he just sat around in camp. It's not like he needed much incentive to train. His multiple losses to Zuren and the helplessness of being a prisoner was something he didn't want to repeat.

"This place seems good." Ranma's voice echoed in his head. "For now, we're just going to do something light. Katara only packed enough food for a few days at the most. You're going to have to ration if you want it to last."

Sokka nodded, eager to get started.

As the sky lightened in the pre-dawn. Ranma finally let him stop. The night was full of holding difficult poses, and extreme stretches. His already normally flexible muscles felt rubbery and sore. He was barely able to wash off the sweat from a nearby river and return to camp before the sun came up. He sat down, munching on some of the rations he saved for dinner and waited for Katara and Aang to wake up. Aang was first, springing up as the first rays of sun brunched his face. Katara awoke and soon they were both getting ready for the day.

Soon, Appa was packed and they were flying through the sky. Sokka took this opportunity to tie himself once again to the saddle and sleep. Trying his best to ignore the idle chatter between his sister and Aang. As soon as he drifted off, he was greeted by Ranma, ready for round two. Sokka just groaned and took up a fighting stance. He knew arguing wasn't going to get anywhere and he needed the training. Sokka finished in the afternoon and was then finally able to relax for a little while when he woke up.

This cycle continued for a few days, with Sokka working out at night, training while he slept in the air, and then relaxing for a little while before they landed for the evening. He really didn't know where they were going other then north and he really didn't care. He was too focused on getting better to let little things like a destination bother him. Katara knew they needed supplies, and she assured him that Aang and her had it covered. It wasn't that they touched down on the third day that Sokka realized where they were going.

"You brought us to the air temple?" Sokka explained groggily, "What are you, stupid or something?"

"Hey!" Katara squawked, coming to Aang's defense.

"No. Don't start, this is a bad idea. They know Aang's an air bender and it doesn't take a genius to guess that you'll want to come back. It would be a perfect place to setup an ambush. This place could be crawling with fire benders all waiting to shower us with fireballs."

Aang didn't seem bothered by these facts. "Don't worry about it Sokka. The only people who can get to an air temple is by flying bison. Besides, Appa is way faster then that metal boat. Even if they could climb the mountain, we'd be long gone before they even got close. We're just getting some supplies, like a bed roll for you, and then we'll go."

Sokka sighed, "Fine. One quick tour of the air temple, then we're leaving."

Aang smiled, and grabbed Katara's hand, "Comon! The temple won't tour itself."

As the pair ran off, Sokka pulled out his sword and hooked it onto his belt. There was something spooky about this place. It was so still and quiet, like the entire temple was dead. Following the sounds of Aang's excited explanation of the different parts of the temple, Sokka caught up to them in an orchard.

"And this is were the monks grew the fruit for pies. Monk Gyatso was the greatest baker in the temple."

"Gyatso?" Katara asked.

"He was my mentor." As Aang stated, it his face fell, seemingly lost in a memory.

Katara noticed after a moment and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

Breaking out of the memory, Aang nodded, wiping tears from his face. "It's just that this place has changed so much. This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now, it's just empty."

Nearby, Sokka was sampling the low hanging fruit. "We'll at least you're not alone." He stated.

"Sokka's right, there may not be any air benders around, but we're not going to abandon you." Aang turned and the pair just looked at each other, sharing a moment. Sokka was just about to break it up when one of the nearby bushes rustled loudly.

Dropping the fruit that Sokka had in his hands, he ducked behind on of the trees. He glanced over and saw that both Aang and Katara had done the same. He knew this was a bad idea. He loosened his blade, ready to fight off any fire benders that would make themselves known. Time seemed to slow down as they all focused on rustling bush. Suddenly, a furry white head popped out of the bush and chirped curiously. Before Sokka knew what was going on. Aang was chasing after the little creature. Saying something about this lemur was going to be his new friend.

"Aang! Don't run off on your own!" Sokka called out. When Aang didn't stop he cursed. "Damn it... Katara, let's follow him, I don't want him off on his own."

Katara nodded and the pair started chasing after their wayward friend. It wasn't that hard to do so, Aang was making a lot of noise as he ran. He sounded like he was enjoying himself. Traveling through courtyards and a few corridors. The soon found Aang stopped by a statue of a sitting monk. His new friend forgotten.

Once they got closer, Aang started talking. "When I got caught in that iceberg, I was terrified. I had flown into the middle of a terrible storm. The wind was so strong that knocked Appa out of the sky. It was second scariest thing I had ever experienced. You see, the monks were going to send me away, to one of the other temples. Gyatso wasn't just my mentor, he was the closest thing to a family I had. I was terrified that I was going to loose him so I ran away to show that the elder monks couldn't tell me what to do. Now I just don't know what to do anymore. He could deal with anything, and I feel lost without his guidance."

"He sounds like a great man." Katara said. "I'm sure he knew how you felt. He would have wanted you to keep moving forward, to find your own way."

Aang nodded and started to walk past the statue. "If I make my own path, then it's time I met someone. No more waiting."

Katara glanced back to Sokka, confused about what Aang meant. Shrugging, Sokka just followed after. "We might as well..."

After a short walk into the deeper parts of the temple, they came across a massive door. It was decorated with a swirl of pipes, with two big horns on either side of the door.

"What is this?" Sokka asked.

"This is the door to the air temple sanctuary. Only accessible by a master air bender. Monk Gyatso said that there was someone here that could help me."

"I don't think anyone could have survived all of this time alone in there." Katara said.

"We came all this way, might as well." Sokka said, motioning to Aang. "If you would do the honors."

Taking a deep breath, Aang pushed out with both hands. Two sustained air blasts shot into the pipes. Deep tones sounded, announcing to the world that the sanctuary was being revealed. The lock unhooked, and the doors swung open. The hinges groaning after years of not being used. Without a second thought, Aang walked into the sanctuary, followed closely by Katara. Sokka took a few steps forward and froze, a chill running up his spine. Something felt off, that nagging feeling he had since he got here was blaring in the back of his mind. He surveyed the darkness, trying to piece the veil that obscured a majority of the room. He was just about ready to voice a warning when the room dissolved into chaos.

From the darkness a half dozen men in black cloth leaped out, casting out nets before Aang and Katara realized what had happened. Sokka watched, dumbfounded as the silent warriors subdued his friends. He was just about ready to go charging in to help when Ranma's voice echoed through his head. "Don't be stupid Sokka, you can't take them all on at once."

"But they need my help." Sokka furiously thought, dashing to cover beside the doorway.

"And running in there now will just make things worst. You need a plan." Sokka just glared as Ranma faded into view. "Remember what Aang said, they want to capture him. You can't capture someone who is dead. They are going to have to transport him down the mountain. You need to surprise them, knock them off balance, and get him and Katara out of here. What resources do you have? Where can you ambush them?"

Sokka thought for a moment before a smile flickered across his face. He quietly snuck away, a plan quickly forming in his mind. He knew the perfect place to ambush them. "Ranma, tell me what you know of the fall of the southern air temple."

1234567890987654321

Back in the sanctuary, Zuko's men finished securing their new prisoners.

"You're fire nation," Aang stated after recovering from the ambush. "How'd you beat us here? There's no way you could travel by boat faster then air bison."

"It doesn't matter how we got here." Zuko spat out, his voice filled with contempt. "You are my prisoner now. I don't have to explain myself to you."

"But I didn't do anything to you." Aang complained, the guards finishing the knots that held his arms tight. They left his legs free to walk, but a long length of rope connected to his chest, acting as a leach that one of the guards held.

"It doesn't matter, the fire nation has been hunting the avatar for a hundred years. We know he hasn't been killed and reborn into the water tribes. You're the last air bender, so you must be the avatar."

"I'm not the last air bender!" Aang screamed, the air whipping around, matching his anger.

"I'll let my father be the judge of that." Zuko stated darkly. "Let's get moving, I want to be away from this forsaken temple as soon as possible."

"What of the boy that was with them?" One of the men asked, "He escaped while we caught these two."

"He's not a bender, he's no threat to us. He can stay here for all I care."

The guards followed their orders and hauled their new prisoners to their feet. Pushing them out of the sanctuary. They walked in silence while they left. Katara tried to be stoic, but she knew they were in trouble. Sokka couldn't take on a half dozen solders on his own, and there was that old man who just stood back and watched. He seemed to radiate a power that she had never felt before, if the solders were waves, he was a tsunami. She found it distracting and tried her best not to stare, instead focusing on Aang who had fallen into melancholy. She tried to catch his eye to give a supportive smile, but his eyes were downcast, staring at nothing.

Soon, they reached the courtyard that had the statue of monk Gyatso. As they passed the statue, Katara caught the faint sound of a familiar boomerang rocketing towards them. She glanced to the side and watched as the boomerang flew into view. At the same time, the guards at the front were pelted with fruit. Zuko sensed the attack and ducked under a flying peach, retaliating with a flame blast in the direction the fruit came from. The solders ignored the boomerang crashing into the ground with a clatter, skidding to a halt by Katara's feet.

"Hey sulfur brains!" Sokka stated, popping from cover a short distance from where the fruit was thrown from. "I'm only going to say this once, let my sister go and none of you get hurt."

"We are not giving up the Avatar!" Zuko called back.

"The kid? Why would I want him back. He's just some goofy monk who was able to escape the fire nation torching his home and killing his family."

Most of the solders were taken aback by the boys words. He traveled with the avatar, surely he was an ally.

"Sokka you jerk!" Katara yelled out. "Aang's our friend and you're just going to abandon him? How could you be so cruel?"

"Don't start now Katara, this is for your own good. Family comes before homeless refugees. If Aang wants to give up instead of getting revenge against the people who killed Gyatso, that's his problem."

"What?!" Aang exclaimed, his head snapping up.

"Oh, they didn't tell you? Fire Lord Sozin used the comet to wipe out all the benders here looking for the Avatar. The battle was the ting of nightmares, who knew monks could put up a good fight. By the time the dust settled, almost everyone on both sides were dead. The mountain littered with bodies. It's said that Sozin barely had enough troops to fill a small boat by the time all was done. He just left, leaving the bodies to rot in the sun." As Sokka spoke, most of the guards looked uneasy, remembering the sight of all the bodies that strewn the ground last time they were here. "Though I wonder where all the bodies are now, you can barely smell the death, feel the suffering."

"Enough!" Zuko yelled out. "Those men fought and died honorably in the service of the fire nation, I will not have you disrespecting their sacrifice. I was going to let you go, but now you've pissed me off."

As Zuko stepped forward, flames danging around his clenched hands, Sokka stepped forward, drawing his sword. "Bring it, jerky-face."

No one was paying attention to the crying Air bender. It had finally hit home that everyone he knew really was gone. He knew something was wrong with his home when he first arrived, but he didn't want to believe it. The shame of running away returned full force. It was his fault the world fell apart, his fault that Gyatso died. He abandoned them when they needed him. Now he was captured by the very people who destroyed his home. Sokka was probably going to get himself killed, and who knew what would happen to Katara. He was truly alone now, with no one to help him now. As he sunk deeper into depression something deep inside stirred. Something old and primal. He only noticed it for a moment before it came rocketing out from the dark recesses of his mind. His people had been wronged, the world has been wronged, and it was time to make them pay. It only took a moment for his feeling to take over his entire being. It was then that Aang's world went white.

Nearby, Sokka was hyped to take on a fire bender. He had hopefully pissed this guy off enough to get him to chase him when he disengaged. Sokka's plan was to split them up so Katara could use the unnoticed boomerang he landed at their feet to cut their bonds and escape. He was just about ready to jump into action when a chill ran up his spine. It was like the biggest killer whale-wolf had just stepped into the area, hungry to feed. He glanced around, the solders were all watching their impending fight, Katara was trying to comfort Aang, and Aang was... "Oh crap." Sokka cursed quietly. Ranma had taught him how to see battle auras, to see the energy that radiated from everyone. He still totally sucked at it, but he could see the faint swirl of energy around Aang. He had stopped crying and Sokka's instincts told him that he needed to be somewhere else.

Forgetting the fight, Sokka shifted and sprinted away, diving behind the cover of a nearby wall.

Zuko, confused, started to follow Sokka.

Iroh noticed the sudden pressure in the air and glanced to the boy. His aura was glowing like a torch in his spirit sense. Instantly recognizing the danger he called out a warning. "Zuko!"

That was when the mountain exploded in light.

The initial flash of energy blinded everyone and the shock wave knocked everyone off their feet. Zuko twisted into a roll, springing back to his feet before he could crash into a wall. He glanced back to the air bender, whose tattoos glowed an unearthly blue. Zuko was stunned, the kid was so easily taken down, he really didn't give it a second thought. He was angry that the person he had been chasing for years was such a push over. There was no honor in capturing a kid, even if he was the avatar. He watched in mute amazement as the kid breathed out a stream of flame, instantly catching the rope that bound him on fire. Strangely, the fire did not burn his clothes and the rope was soon broken. That was when the boy lifted his gaze towards Zuko. In a split second, Zuko knew he was going to die. The amount of raw power pushing to be released behind those eyes rooted Zuko to the ground. He didn't know how the boy would decide to end his life, but he knew that it was going to be a massive display of power.

The boy wound up his attack, and paused for a half second before turning and shooting up his hands. A wall of rock shot up and Zuko could hear the sound of arrows crashing into the new barrier. Now the kids eyes were off of him and Zuko let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The boy then kicked outwards, sending the rock wall rocketing towards his men who were scrambling out of the way. One man was almost crushed as the wall flew by with only inches to spare. This kid was playing for keeps, and his men wouldn't stand a chance against such a powerful bender.

Zuko breathed in to let loose a fire blast and was tackled from the side. "You idiot, don't piss it off!" Yelled out Captain Kenzo, "That kid is too powerful for you to take head on." Zuko was about to yell back that he was trying to help when a massive fire blast, bigger then anything he could muster right now, flew towards the air bender. Zuko watched dumbfounded as the the kid effortlessly swatted the blast into the sky, returning with a powerful air blast in the direction that the blast came from. Iroh had already moved and was firing from another location.

"Don't watch, run!" Kenzo commanded, half dragging Zuko behind him. "You want to get blasted off the mountain?" They were out of the court yard and out of view of the battle before Zuko knew it. He was so disoriented that he wasn't sure why he was still on his feet.

"I... I need to go back... and help Uncle." Zuko protested weekly. The fire blasts were still flying, being deflected into the sky. He watched as the other guards fled down the hill, zigzagging to make a difficult target.

"No way, no how." Kenzo stated. "That's the unbeatable Avatar State. He has the power and knowledge of all his past lives now. You'd just be getting in the way. General Iroh knows what he's doing and I have orders to keep you safe." Just then, the air pressure suddenly dropped and the wind kicked up. Dust and plant material shot past, being sucked towards the glowing tornado that loomed over the courtyard.

Zuko glanced back and watched in horror as his uncle was sucked off the ground and into the glowing mass. "Uncle!" He screamed out as Kenzo tackled him again. "Let go! Uncle's in trouble."

Kenzo quietly held the struggling teen below him as he watched a massive bolder rocket up from the ground, most likely head right for the general. It suddenly stopped as the general came sliding around the edge of the tornado. The wind died down as Iroh twisted in way a man of his bulk should have found impossible and touched down on the hovering stone. With a mighty leap and a fire blast at his feet, he shot out of the tornado and relatively free from danger. The tornado was dieing down and he watched quietly as Iroh fell towards the earth. Twisting again in air, Iroh fired twin blasts at the ground, slowing his decent. He then passed out of sight of the pair, falling to a lower part of the mountain.

Hopping off Zuko, Kenzo helped him to his feet. The pair took off, heading strait to where general Iroh disappeared over the horizon.

Back at the top of the mountain, Sokka peaked out from his hiding place. Ranma had told him to stay put and he was inclined to agree with him. He felt more then anything the battle that took place in the courtyard. The roar of fire and whoosh of air keep him rooted to the spot. He only hoped that Aang had enough sense to protect his sister. If he went out there, he would have be alternately incinerated or blown off the mountain the moment he left cover. In the middle of the courtyard, he was relieved to see his sister unharmed. She was currently holding what looked like an unconscious Aang in her arms. He pushed down his brotherly over protectiveness and instead let his tactical mind take over. The fire nation was probably on the run, but they'd be back. They needed to get out of here and fast.

As if called by magic, he heard the deep growl of Appa coming in for a landing. He broke cover, sprinting for the pair. They both looked exhausted. "Break time's over, we need to move." He called out as Appa touched down next to Aang. Katara only nodded and let Sokka help them up. After a few moments of stumbling up the back of Appa, they were aboard and Sokka jumped to the front to take the reins as they took off. He only glanced back once to check for fire blasts before turning north. He wanted to get as far away from this place as possible, as quickly as possible. As he flew, he listened to the conversation going on behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were that Avatar?" Katara asked.

"It's because I never wanted to be. People always treated me differently when they found out and I really like you guys."

"But the world needs you Aang. We need you."

"My people needed me a hundred year ago!" Aang angrily retorted. "If I didn't run away, I could have been there to help save my people from the fire nation."

"You can't know that. You could have been killed with the rest of your people." Katara paused before adding. "You can't change what happened in the past."

Sokka decided to add his thoughts. "Aww, cheer up Aang. You're people didn't die for nothing. I'll have you know that after the siege of the air temples, the fire nation army was so weakened that they couldn't launch any major offensives for almost thirty years. By then, the rest of the world had mobilized and were ready to protect their land. The monks gave their lives so that others could live. It was a heroic thing to do."

"Heroic!" Aang spat out, "I was taught that all life is sacred. How could you treat the death of so many as a good thing?"

"Calm down, Aang. I didn't mean their death was good, but that something good came from it. The monks realized that sometimes you have to do terrible things for the good of the world. If they didn't do what they did, we'd all be under the rule of a fire nation tyrant by now."

"I guess you're right." Aang wearily stated, totally drained of energy to argue. "I just can't believe that me and Appa are all that's left of the air nomads."

Sokka smiled and pointed to one of the food bags. "I wouldn't be to sure about that. Take a look."

Confused, Aang crawled over to the pack and pulled it open. With a screech, a white furry critter jumped out of the bag and spun around Aang's head before diving into his shirt. Aang couldn't help himself, he started to laugh as the furry critter ticked him while it shifted around. It then came to a stop, poking it's head out of the neck of the shirt.

"I found him when I was gathering fruit to throw at the solders. He seemed friendly enough and I thought you might like a familiar face from the past."

Aang petted the lemur, his eyes full of tears. "Thanks Sokka, you have no idea what this means to me. What should we call him?"

"It's your lemur, you should do the honors."

Aang thought for a bit trying to think up of something appropriate. As he thought, a peach rolled out of the pack and across the saddle. The lemur immediately leaped out of Aang's shirt and snatched the fruit up before it could roll out of the saddle, stuffing his face with it like it was the last piece of fruit in the world.

"Momo, we'll call him Momo."

12345678987654321

Back on the mountain, Zuko's party was clustered together on one of the lower courtyards where Iroh had touched down after his fight with the avatar.

"Your Uncle is resting. Aiko and Shoji were roughed up but are otherwise able to move. Juro's leg is mangled rather badly. My men are tending to him and preparing him for travel. What are your orders prince Zuko?" Captain Kenzo stood behind the prince who was calmly sitting away from the troops. He was looking into the sky, staring into space, seemingly lost in thought. Kenzo stood there, waiting for the prince to speak.

After a time, Zuko spoke. "For years I've been chasing after a myth, a legend. I had dreamed of what I would do when I finally met him, of what I would say and how I would defeat him. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would be so young, and that I would be so unprepared. How could someone hope to beat something so powerful." He sighed and fell silent, brooding over what had happened today.

"Sir?"

Zuko glanced back, finally taking notice of the man behind him. "Prepare private Juro for transport and gather our supplies. We'll leave as soon as Uncle has recovered enough to move. I'd like to be down most of the mountain before my cousin's search parties find us."

Knowing he was dismissed Kenzo saluted, "Yes sir." He then walked away, leaving Zuko with his thoughts.

"You surprised me this time." Zuko thought to himself, looking to where the avatar escaped to. "Next time, I'll be ready to take you down."

End of chapter 2

12345678987654321

Authors note:

Whew... This was a tough chapter to write. Where I spent little over a year working on the first chapter, this one only took a couple of months. My normal pre-reader is slower then molasses and I kinda like how things stand right now. I feel that I rushed through a few parts of this 25,000 word monstrosity so I hope you still enjoyed it. Reading back over it makes me realize that my characterizations are not always consistent and I hope they will settle down once I get further into story. It's my hope that you enjoyed this chapter even with it's weaknesses. I'll probably do another major edit/revision once I finish the third chapter. I find that it helps to re-read previous chapters before I do my fist edit on the new chapter. Which I hope helped smooth some of the rough-ness of this rough draft.

Up next: The warriors of Kiyoshi. Now that Sokka is a little more experienced of a fighter, how will a village full of proud warrior women handle someone like Sokka? Join us and find out in : For love of art.

As always, feel free to leave comments or reviews. Praise will be relished, corrections or suggestions will be considered, and flames will be used to heat my home.

Until next time. 


End file.
